Female Bonobos Assert Their Dominance Over Males by Banding Together, New Study Suggests Smithsonian Mag
Why Are People Worshipping the Virgin Mary as a Goddess? Sapiens
Wisconsin woman missing for more than 60 years found ‘alive and well’ The Guardian
OPEC+ To Further Speed Up Oil Output Hikes gCaptain
Climate/Environment
When FEMA failed to test soil for toxic substances after the L.A. fires, The Times had it done. The results were alarming Los Angeles Times
Droughts and heat waves reduce plants’ ability to absorb CO₂, study finds Phys.org
Sand groomers v turtles: how wildlife is falling foul of the demand for Insta-perfect beaches The Guardian
Whale urine helps fertilize sea by dispersing nutrients, critical for marine life Interesting Engineering
Pandemics
Preprint: Bovine Derived Clade 2.3.4.4b HPAI H5N1 Virus Causes Mild Disease and Limited Transmission in Pigs Avian Flu Diary
***
fascinating and terrifying thread—widespread immune damage from COVID apparently means many common pathogens are now moving in huge synchronized waves. this degree of correlation wasn’t seen before the virus tore through our collective immune system https://t.co/NcMDNCzvx1 pic.twitter.com/2x0K20hYlw
— inita bath (@entropywhore) May 4, 2025
World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says The Guardian
Real-time sequencing a promising tool for hospital outbreak detection, study finds CIDRAP
India-Pakistan
Pakistan’s warfighting capabilities limited to 4 days; struggling with shortage of artillery ammunition Economic Times
Pakistan seeks UN Security Council session over tensions with India Anadolu Agency
Turkish naval ship arrives in Pakistan on visit to strengthen maritime cooperation Arab News
Japan
Japan Presses U.S. to Scrap 25％ Auto Tariffs as Ishiba Refuses Partial Trade Deal; No Deal Without ‘Total Rollback’ The Japan News
China?
China is killing Boeing, Part II: As a major Pentagon contractor Inside China / Business. Part I.
CIA mind games and the wages of betrayal in China Asia Times
This $90,000 personal robot went berserk and tried to kill its creator.
The developer, Unitree, said it’s due to ‘imperfect coding’.
The future is gonna get weird… pic.twitter.com/bDD4Vzh2z5
— Jordan Crowder (@digijordan) May 3, 2025
The Lucky Country
Anthony Albanese, riding anti-Trump wave, claims victory for Labor Party in Australia Reuters
Syraqistan
Nearly 290,000 Gaza children on ‘the brink of death’ amid Israeli blockade Al Jazeera
UN and aid groups denounce Israeli-U.S. plan for Gaza aid delivery Axios
🚨Extremely dystopian: Israel will set up compounds run by foreign mercenaries in areas under full IDF control where they can snatch/murder whoever they don’t like on their way to get aid
Israel would only allow less than 10% of the amount of food that used to enter Gaza during… pic.twitter.com/WZrqwd7su0
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) May 4, 2025
The IDF strike that launched this boy onto a roof and killed 15 relatives was targeting his father, a Gaza Finance Ministry employee, who’d been detained early in the war and freed just 2 months ago in the hostage swap. Part of a campaign to wipe out Gaza’s civil leadership. pic.twitter.com/064Wy1kJGP
— jasper nathaniel (@infinite__jaz) May 4, 2025
Popemobile converted into mobile children’s health clinic in Gaza Irish Times
***
Trump will only accept “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program Axios
How Houthi missile pierced US-Israeli defenses and hit Tel Aviv airport, expert explains Anadolu Agency
Seems like Netanyahu is going to use this Yemeni missile strike to try and get his US-Iran war https://t.co/bbGZd3onP2
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) May 4, 2025
Inside Waltz’s ouster: Before Signalgate, talks with Israel angered Trump WaPo
MAGA Leaders Defend Americans’ Right to Boycott Israel Newsweek
I agree with @RepMTG .
I’ll be voting No on this bill as well. https://t.co/YOPga59Xyc— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 4, 2025
European Disunion
Ukraine critic wins first round of Romanian presidential election rerun RT
Whistleblower who exposed Erdoğan allies’ ‘dirty money’ network murdered in Netherlands Turkish Minute
New Not-So-Cold War
THE SUMMIT IN THE SAND – PUTIN AGREES TO MEET TRUMP IN ABU DHABI ON MAY 15-16 John Helmer
US will no longer ‘fly around the world’ to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war Semafor
Will anyone criticize Zelensky’s threat to attack the Moscow Victory Day parade? Ian Proud
Ukraine mouthpiece just casually joking about droning two European heads of state. Totally normal. https://t.co/GZOVfkYTtO
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 3, 2025
World-first: Sea drone shoots down fighter jet in Russia during active war Interesting Engineering
No New Abrams Tanks For Ukraine: U.S. Blocking Australian Delivery as Performance Raises Questions Military Watch
Ukraine: the newest American state? Julian Macfarlane
The Anglo-Nazi Global Empire That Almost Was Kit Klarenberg
Spook Country
Trump administration plans major downsizing at U.S. spy agencies WaPo
“Liberation Day”
Chinese exporters ‘wash’ products in third countries to avoid Donald Trump’s tariffs FT
Trump 2.0
Welker: Do you agree that everyone who is here deserves due process? Citizens and noncitizens?
Trump: I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer.
Welker: The 5th amendment says as much.. Don’t you need to uphold the constitution?
Trump: I don’t know pic.twitter.com/1y8POREX9S
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 4, 2025
Full transcript: NBC News. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: ‘I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.’
Conor here: Seems a logical extension of decades of illegal wars, torture, rendition, enemy combatants, droning ‘terrorists’ (including US citizens), war crimes, etc.
Trump wants to make Alcatraz Alcatraz again San Francisco Standard
DOGE
Republicans Set to Give Self-Described ‘DOGE Person’ Keys to Social Security Agency Common Dreams
Musk slams media, critics for Nazi comparisons: ‘Character assassination’ The Hill
SpaceX workers in South Texas vote yes to create City of Starbase Texas Tribune. Company Town.
MAHA
Worker safety agency NIOSH lays off most remaining staff CBS News
Democrats en Déshabillé
Democrats cautiously open door to another Harris run in 2028 The Hill
Police State Watch
Father of teen shot by Ohio police accused of hitting, killing deputy with vehicle Cleveland.com
AI
tech guys are seriously like aliens. none of them understand why art exists or what human behavior looks like https://t.co/JZPERQ3g0E
— defleppardfan94 (@lemonade_grrrl) May 3, 2025
PEOPLE ARE LOSING LOVED ONES TO AI-FUELED SPIRITUAL FANTASIES Rolling Stone
Antitrust
Meta’s Survey of “Worst Companies in the US” Ranked Meta Last Big Tech on Trial
Groves of Academe
NYU DEMANDS LAW STUDENTS RENOUNCE PROTESTS OR BE BARRED FROM SITTING FINAL EXAMS The Intercept
Our Famously Free Press
Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, has been awarded the 2025 Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism
This actually captures perfectly mainstream media and its “journalist”. pic.twitter.com/S3DSy8KVBY
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) May 2, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
America’s R&D Reckoning ChinaTalk
The Friendly Skies
The Bezzle
How M.L.M. world works on Instagram and TikTok Bridget Read
Class Warfare
Tenants Facing Evictions Increasingly Don’t Have Lawyers Despite NYC Law, Comptroller’s Report Finds The City
Eviction Rates in SF Soar as Legal Aid Faces Deep Funding Cuts San Francisco Public Press
Homeless sweeps are big business for the Homeless Industrial Complex. Portland conducted a major homeless sweep yesterday. Approximately 90% of the homeless I observed dragged their tents exactly two blocks away. Three clean teams were involved from three different pic.twitter.com/FIntNCcJVf
— Kevin Dahlgren 🥾 🥾 (@kevinvdahlgren) May 2, 2025
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Trump Pursues His Grudge
(melody borrowed from Sometimes When We Touch written by Dan Hill and Barry Mann in 1977)
Our tariffs push and shove you for he set them way too high
Your country is our colony, and a source of raw supplies
America will mug you, you’ll forever pay us dues
Just as long as Trump is winning, that will have to do
Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
We grow weary of his lies and pride
Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die
We will bomb your country, laying sanctions from all sides
Insult you categorically, kill your children, and your wives
We’re a worldwide fire lighter, we are fierce, and we’re uncouth
We are stabbers, we are biters, and we make up our own truth
Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
We grow weary of his lies and pride
Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die
For the nation heaven gave you goes to us or the Chinese
That’s limiting our world view, we’re possessed by jealousy
There’s no promise we can grant you that will not be falsified
If our threats do not enchant you, if you wonder why we lied
Know that we are led by grifters stealing till the bitter end
We will shout and we will whisper, and blow the pipelines of our friends
Trump doesn’t grasp that much, what he touches turns to fudge
We grow weary of his lies and pride
Now his brain has gone bye bye, he’s our king in his mind’s eye
His heart is cold; he doesn’t blink as people die
“How Houthi missile pierced US-Israeli defenses and hit Tel Aviv airport, expert explains”
Not really surprising that that missile got through. When Iran launched their retaliatory missile attack on Israel last year, most of the actual missiles got through in spite of Israel having advanced warning and the help of countries like the US, UK, Jordan, etc. People said at the time that Israel did not have so much an Iron Dome as an Iron Colander. And now most major airlines are suspending flights to Israel as it being too risky so Yemen got in a big hit here.
Rev, I am actually a bit surprised. The strikes you mention relied on saturation to varying degrees. It looks like this was a SINGLE missile that the Israeli systems & THAAD could concentrate ALL their attention on and it still got through!
I’d posted this re Alcatraz and who to send there pretty much as the new links went up so I think a hive mind is in action! Plus Squid Game 3 would be entirely US produced so two birds with one stone! /snark
Apropos war with Iran getting closer, British right wing media made a huge splash this morning with claims that British intelligence had foiled a terror plot by Iran against the country. Details were sketchy to say the least, but reminiscent of the hysteria about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction that could be deployed against Europe within 45 minutes.
It seems we are being softened up to accept Iran must be destroyed a la Carthage all those years ago.
Summer 2014 vibes continue.
LA TIMES finds poisoned soil.
While this is ostensibly an exposee of FEMA, the practical effect of it is to make buying up land for the Olympics, much cheaper!!!
‘Suppressed News.
@SuppressedNws
Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, has been awarded the 2025 Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism
This actually captures perfectly mainstream media and its “journalist”.’
Never even heard of this award but when I saw a list of who had won it, was not surprised that they gave a gong to Clarissa Ward. A previous winner is Bernard-Henri Lévy and so was Bari Weiss. Liars the lot of them-
https://lapressclub.org/socal/daniel_pearl_award/
It’s the sort of award that if you found yourself nominated for it, then you should go home and start seriously reconsidering your life choices.
Seems like the award, if it was an authentic acclaim, should be bestowed upon the scores of journalists slaughtered by the Israelis in and around Gaza.
They are not neocon warmongers, like the namesake of the award.
One should look up Danoel Pearl himself, the man the award is named after. While it’s not a good thing to speak ill of the dead, he was not a particularly “inspiring” fellow, unless you consider propagandizing (for which he wound up paying with his life) “journalism.” The link is to wikipedia with its issues, fwiw.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pearl
Bad Cattitude has some thoughts about the first world.
the second world
a tour of “you don’t wanna go there”
– by el gato malo
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-second-world
“Trump wants to make Alcatraz Alcatraz again”
Trump shooting his mouth off without putting his brain into gear first. There are reasons that Alcatraz became a tourist spot and is not still a prison. Looked up Wikipedia to confirm what I read years ago and confirmed it-
‘A 1959 report indicated that the facility was over three times more expensive to run than the average American prison; $10 per prisoner per day compared to $3 in most other prisons. The problem was made worse by the buildings’ structural deterioration from exposure to salt spray, which would require $5 million to fix. Major repairs began in 1958, but by 1961 engineers considered the prison a lost cause.’
That report was from 65 years ago so you can imagine the present costs. And those old building would not be up to code and there would have to extensive work done on the plumbing, electricals, etc. and maybe the whole thing would have to be mostly rebuilt. An extra 65 years of salt spray would have not really helped things either. So now you are talking billions in present day costs. Still, it will be a good buzz for the prison industrial complex-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Federal_Penitentiary
“those old building would not be up to code and there would have to extensive work done on the plumbing, electricals, etc. and maybe the whole thing would have to be mostly rebuilt. An extra 65 years of salt spray would have not really helped things either. So now you are talking billions in present day costs.”
I suspect that this is exactly how bureaucratic infighters will play the game if Trump seriously orders a renovation project for Alcatraz and does not just forget about the whole issue after causing some media hype.
Make a perfectly thorough study (plenty of architects and consultants will be paid, a nice side-effect), then come up with a mind-boggling billion-magnitude detailed cost estimate for a construction requiring many years (perhaps after a complete demolition and a complex set up for the foundations, with additional special harbour facilities in San Francisco) — and see the whole affair being cancelled right away with everybody breathing a sigh of relief.
I think Trump just likes the idea of punking San Francisco.
Look for nearby Angel Island to be restored to its historical utilization as a concentration camp for unwelcome non-white immigrants.
The Feds will have to pay big money to the State of California for Angel Island unless they come up with some spurious national security power to seize it. Which might happen under this administration.
At least the Feds own Alcatraz. A new water system for the island will be pretty spendy. Not to mention that it sits practically atop the San Andreas Fault.
Yea, but the brand recognition. Trump is all about the brand recognition.
Since I doubt Trump plans to fix anything, I imagine he dreams about how this fits his tough man persona. All my right wing relatives would see this as a big win. Send welfare recipients out there and all the minorities they hate and you’ve got yourself a winner! FOX news has made this propaganda for years.
Too bad you are right. Is FOX still using the DOGE clock?
Trump can just go on TV and say he won by landslide and we have the best border ever and Constitution scmonstitution, maybe it says stuff, maybe it doesn’t, and …that’s fine.
Still obsessive about the long-ago claim that Mexico is not “sending their best.” Because everything that happens is a deliberate act designed to hurt America. Amazing mindset.
Make American Gaols Again!
Gallows?
>Female Bonobos Assert Their Dominance Over Males by Banding Together, New Study Suggests
Inspiring…
This is sort of standard in the couple of matriarchal societies that I’ve lived on the fringes of.
Matrons band together and any uppity male is toast.
This is news?
And at clubs girls band together as groups making it harder to cut one out of the pack
Well, in boy bands with a girl singer (and this goes way back to the big band era), the adage among the leaders (who were guys, natch) was: don’t marry the singer ’cause you won’t be able to fire her. :-)
Well, Bonobos are different: “The species is best characterized as female-centered and egalitarian and as one that substitutes sex for aggression.” (Scientific American)
I always preferred sex over aggression. :-)
I think there are a lot of folks there that like the aggression and sex combo…
I read with interest the ChinaTalk article “America’s R&D Reckoning”, but found it unsatisfying. My older relatives were active of the golden era of American R&D, but by the time I made it out of university the shine was already diminishing.
Living in the Silicon Valley I had a front-row seat (and occasionally some small parts on stage) as the VC ecosystem became fully financialized through the first Internet bubble and beyond. Startups transitioned from being creativity vehicles with prospects for business success, into financial vehicles with prospects for being a unicorn. Meanwhile the universities have become less tolerant of open ended research, preferring to back trendy startups with a chance of big money. Or failing that, at least things they can brag about to “improve their reputation.” It feels to me that everything that made us an R&D success historically has been left behind. All the wrong priorities; all the wrong heroes.
The ChinaTalk article starts out with the golden era, but then jumps to the last 100 days, or perhaps the last year, to talk about what has gone wrong. I honestly don’t think our problems are new. They have been growing for a long time, to the point where much of our R&D ecosystem is really just rotten logs waiting to fall apart. Once it became all about appearances the thread was lost.
There is more to it of course. The US was once the place that everyone wanted to live, and we got most of the best creatives from around the world to come here. Now people can’t get here, or can’t stay, even if they wanted to. And more and more realize that elsewhere may be a better bet.
In theory all of this can be fixed, but in practice it will not be. Because you cannot achieve what you do not want. And America increasingly prefers looks over substance.
Personally I am one of these people that believe that money spent on research always pays off in one form or another. So if somebody wanted a million dollars to find out where your lap goes to when you stand up, I would say go for it. In researching it you just might find stuff applicable to humanoid robotics for example.
Zephyrum: Living in the Silicon Valley I had a front-row seat … as the VC ecosystem became fully financialized through the first Internet bubble and beyond. Startups transitioned from being creativity vehicles … into financial vehicles with prospects for being a unicorn.
[1] Living in Silicon Valley is precisely the wrong place to have any true perspective on the whole VC ecosystem, arguably. That’s because almost all that anyone there can imagine is software and the computer/internet industry, to the extent that they think that’s what tech means.
[2] But Deep Tech VC continues. Yes, it’s harder, but also potentially profitable. Before he made a complete fool of himself, arguably the single creditable thing about Musk was that he took his Paypal payoff and invested in an EV and a rocket launcher biz. That’s real tech and at his height his worth on paper reached $400 billion. By contrast, Peter Thiel, his fellow Paypal South African lizard person, went the standard Silicon Valley route into software and infotech mostly, and is only worth $1o billion.
For a comedy show on HBO, I thought Silicon Valley was pretty revealing about what was really being created by the VC ecosystem:
Silicon Valley – Pied Piper’s product
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZFTaEenaHM
But the reality is even worse, so many of America’s mega corporations are now structured such that all else in the corporation is sacrificed (including R&D) so that the stock can go up. This is why even Biden’s more rational investments in re-industrializing America were doomed to failure.
I have to admit that Musk’s significant investment in real products seemed to be the exception to the rule, but it was always conjoined with massive stock bubbles around his companies.
Agreed. The house has been on fire for quite some time. All the last 100 days did was drive a tanker truck of gasoline into the fire.
Yes the fireworks are now exploding (or will be soon), but the tanker truck didn’t start the fire.
That reminds me — on the heels of yesterday’s traditional memorial to military and first responders who died in the line of duty serving their country, on Tuesday May 13 people in the Netherlands will be marking and mourning the 25th anniversary of the Enschede fireworks factory disaster.
https://youtu.be/c6ibEHyY7Vg
>Nearly 290,000 Gaza children on ‘the brink of death’ amid Israeli blockade
DN:
“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”: Omar El Akkad on Gaza & Western Complicity
Sadly, this may only come to pass after the Palestinians are but a legend.
The Nazis tried to hide what they were doing when they attempted genocide.
In Gaza it’s happening out in the open, in real time.
This is where we are.
Israel tried to hide and obfuscate what they are doing by banning international press and killing over a hundred Palestinian journalists. They are failing, thanks to the heroism of Palestinian journalists, the technology that allows for instant capture and transfer of film and people all around the world who help share the clips and donate to causes that buys e-sims for Gaza.
But they tried. And a mere decade or two ago the strategy would probably have worked.
“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”: Omar El Akkad on Gaza & Western Complicity –
Sadly, this may only come to pass after the Palestinians are but a legend.
There are many Palestinians who have moved to live in other countries over the past 50 years or so. They will never forgive; they will never forget. Karma’s a b*tch…
Alas, I have Palestinian neighbors who I have embraced for ten years at least. When we first met and he spoke of his extraction, I immediately stepped forward and embraced him, in solidarity (I have followed the Palestinian tragedy for many years). We spoke after October ’23 and we elaborated. Today he will only say: It is what it is.
I don’t know what their legal status is but I suspect there is a great fear of speaking out, even to a neighbor they must know is on their side. Considering the times, that is somewhat understandable, and very sad.
I see you’ve already moved into to talking about them in the past tense. Norm Finkelstein does the same, he’ll talk about the evil of Israel but then speak of Palestinians in the past tense. He also disses Hamas when they’re the only force fighting the occupation. Why I think very poorly of him.
I wasn’t speaking of them in the past tense, I see them daily.
Finkelstein doesn’t take much notice of the resistance and I think that is a fault.
Precisely. There’s will be suffering and huge losses, but the cost of giving up is higher than the cost of fighting. You can’t ever live in peace with agreement incapable cancers like Israel and the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtoWptrhPOM
Thank you!
But you know, and the world will know, that Erdogan was in front of those who did nothing, and along the front that could have done much.
Absolutely!
Yea right, tried to kill its creator. A murder by slapping. Speaking of slapping, everyone hyping up stuff on the internets deserve one, so I guess that’s a valid use case for this anthropomorphic garage endeavour. 👋
In street-fight jargon, that robot used a technique called “windmilling”. A sharp liver-punch is the most effective counter.
Working link for “Chinese exporters wash products…” (FT).
https://archive.is/sKmDF
Mary, the Mother of God, Feminists Reclaim (What Was Already There).
Heck, with a name like Conor Gallagher, now would you be posing the question at all of the divinity of Mary, the Mother of God?
First, I will start with the love-life stuff mentioned in the article by Emma Cieslik at Sapiens: Anybody who has been to any / many art galleries or churches in Italy has seen plenty of images of a hunky Saint Joseph. So that “eternal virgin” business seems tenuous. Looking at church history, it also seems like an add-on.
Second, the “patriarchy” stuff gets a tad strained, too: Look at the Capitoline Trinity in Roman religion. Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Hmmm, how did those powerful women get there?
As to the divinity of Mary, the Mother of God (and Joseph, Father of God), the Undisclosed Region, with its ancient Celtic substrate, is teeming with goddesses. Who naturally joined up. So I happen to live near the Chiesa di Gran Madre di Dio (and the rumor is that the Holy Grail is buried under the basilica). The lovely / popular basilica of the Consolata is nearby, with its many ex votos, left by people helped by Mary. And then there is the basilica of Maria Ausiliatrice — the great help — a testament to compassion.
And when the French invaded in 1706 or so (and you can see why I am against Euro Rearm), the king made a vow to Herself if she would help out the Piedmontese — and the Chocolate City itself, then being bombarded and besieged. Italian Wiki covers the vow with some nice turns of phrase. >>
Lo storico Felice Pastore afferma che in quella circostanza, durante una celebrazione eucaristica, il Duca e il Principe si accostarono ai sacramenti; poi venne cantata solennemente l’Ave Maris Stella. Giunti al versetto «monstra Te esse Matrem» (mostra di essere madre) Vittorio Amedeo II si prostrò ai piedi della statua (quella venerata tutt’oggi nella cappella detta del voto) e fece voto che se la Vergine Maria gli avesse fatto ottenere la vittoria, avrebbe fatto costruire, in quel luogo posto sulla cima del colle di Superga, un magnifico tempio a Lei dedicato. (Spoiler alert: Natch, Mary helped out the Undisclosed Region !!!)
I spent far more Sunday’s stuck in church as a teenager than I would have liked and l have no love lost for organized religion. It pains me a bit to defend it, but when I read stuff like –
“Since then, I have come to see Mary as a prophetess of love and acceptance who queers traditional gender norms.”
– I can only assume that upon learning of such sentiments, Jesus wept.
I came back from my trip across the pond with a pocketful of €1 coins with little owls on them, replicas of ancient coins meant to commemorate Athena, protector of Athens and goddess of wisdom. I also read the Odyssey cover to cover for the first time recently, after previously reading orts and scraps here and there, and I was struck by how much time Odysseus spends crying his head off about all the suffering he’s been though, while Athena spends most of the epic bailing his sorry a$$ out. Perhaps instead of whining about the patriarchy, the womyn of today could pick up an old book and find some role models.
Also, I have been on a bit of a Ralph Fiennes kick lately and yesterday watched him play Odysseus in last year’s The Return, which covers the last several books of the Odyssey after our hero washes up on Ithaca. This version leaves out the supernatural, so no Athena, but Juliette Binoche plays a wonderful Penelope. No white hats/black hats and lots of nuance.
Side note: after dipping my feet back into the Scylla and Charybdis infested waters, it also strikes me the Clint Eastwood stole the end of The Unforgiven from Homer.
lyman alpha blob: Yep, when USonions start going on about being spiritual/notreligious, it gets embarrassing:
“Since then, I have come to see Mary as a prophetess of love and acceptance who queers traditional gender norms.”
This same woman wouldn’t know what an iconostasis is (which would have an image of the Theotokos) if the iconostasis fell on her. I will be very hesitant about telling her about the mystical poems by Jacopone of Todi in which he awaits Jesus as his bridegroom. And if you think that Athena was a scandal, read about Etruscan women.
But enough about Dead White Men.
Meanwhile, side note: This is probably a good moment for you to reread the poem Ithaka by Constantine Kavafis.
An interesting take on the goddess in history is in this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alphabet_Versus_the_Goddess
I wouldn’t say this is an authoritative book, it drew a lot of criticism, but the history it cites is fascinating.
In a nutshell, preliterate societies worshiped the goddess, literate societies worshiped the angry sky male god.
DJG, Reality Czar,
Wonderful story! I really ought to learn Italian. Such a beautiful language.
Many similar stories abound in Catholic lore, so not necessary a spoiler. I do feel however, that after centuries of encouraged implicit worship, it’s odd to see an article expressing surprise about it. “Intercession” as a Catholic construct reminds me of Captain Barbosa’s (Pirates of the Caribbean, superbly played by Geoffrey Rush) “more like guidelines than actual rules” quote (via YouTube) … LOL
That is to say, the fabric of piety gets a bit foggy when praying as to whether one is praying to or praying through.
This also before we get to all sorts of Marian theology like “The Dormition” (Greek, Melkite) or what Roman Catholics call “The Assumption” … a.k.a. Mary was taken body and soul into heaven.
I do also find it a bit odd that some feminists have chosen The Virgin Mother to channel their resistance to patriarchy. Seems to me that the better Mary for such a thrust would be Mary Magdalene … ;-) … perhaps there’s another article forthcoming.
What could possibly go wrong with war against Iran? If the US were a football team they’d be facing relegation given its post WWII form.
Iran would instantly become the plucky Ukraine for freedom-loving people in China, Russia, and every Global South nation on the planet.
Where. does one look for any measure of coherence? The Don took the US, disarmed, into a so-called tariff war. I see no strategy. I see pipe dreams and bravado and bluster in ample quantity. China called his bet, he raised, China raised again. Now what? The Don wants to settle the war in Ukraine on his terms as presented by Kellogg, who it appears has learned nothing and forgotten nothing in the manner of the once upon a time Bourbons of France. Are they deaf? Has not Russia stated its position, its desires, its demands clearly and succinctly time and again? If I can hear them, surely The Don and General Kellogg and the bitter-ended neocons can do so. That is, if they choose to do so. The Don is going to meet with Mr. Putin in ten days. Let’s see what happens. The Don is restating Bibi’s maximalist position that Iran disarm and prostrate itself before Israel and the US. Of course, he is. He is carrying Israel’s water by his futile bombing of hills and valleys and cites in Yemen. But the missiles keep flying. He did fire Waltz who was either coordinating with or taking orders from Israel, or so it appears. What on earth did he think he was doing? Isn’t the job of the National Security Council the security of the United States? the national interest of the United States? Why does it seem as if the national interest of Israel is the first priority?
To sum up, the so-called tariff war is incoherent. (It is also economic nonsense, but that is another discussion.) You cannot simply say end the war in Ukraine on your terms because you want it that way and expect it to be so. Oh, and pretending that you actually care what the government in Kiev wants does not pass the laugh test. And finally, sorrowfully, I must conclude that your policy in the Levant is Israel first despite you, The Don, being president of the United States.
Regarding World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says, it made me think that there are numerous countries (especially tropical ones) that make it a requirement to have specific vaccinations, duly recorded in a vaccination booklet (e.g. WHO-type), before entering the country.
Are we going to see this practice being revived on a larger scale because the USA are incapable of putting their public health in order?
“- I’m sorry sir, I see here you have not been vaccinated against measles and diphteria.”
“- But, but…”
“- Please follow me to the quarantaine area where you will wait for the next flight back to the USA”.
It has happened already. Remember how doctors wouldn’t treat people who had not been vaccinated (in the USA)?
And there were threats that such people would be forced to stay in quarantine at home and could not go to the movies, to work, to clubs, etc. At one point it was really getting heavy handed.
That word “world” in the article title seems to be a very narrow definition of the same comprising as much as Canada, Mexico and the US, but basically the US. Isn’t it? FWIW, in Spain the measles vaccine is still administered in a two-dose fashion together with mumps and rubella at 12 months and 3-4 years after birth. To my knowledge almost every child gets vaccinated in Spain. Oh, and the prevalence of autism in Spain seems to be lower compared to the US (though direct comparisons can be somehow misleading depending on how good each health system survey is). So, the panorama vao is painting might come true sooner that expected.
The fact that “The Democrats(TM)” are floating a trial balloon about running Chamelia Harris for President again in 2028 is all you need to know to conclude that this political party is well past it’s use by date.
My money is on a True MAGA Party replacing the present iteration of The MAGA Party next cycle and for The Democrat Party to fall into third place after being crushed in 2028. Who else will arise to fill the power vacuum, I know not; maybe a revivified Know Nothing Party.
Either way, the actual body politic in America is fast entering Third World status.
I’ll note that the proposed return to Aristocrats and Peasants in America is not fit to run and maintain any sort of industrial civilization. It finally looks like The Confederacy rises again. A Plantocracy is the most probable outcome of the socio-economic trends in evidence in our system today.
Now for the bad news…..
That last bit reminded me of the old Marty Feldman weather skit-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICE6l-5qTYE ( 41 secs)
Harris will run an “I told you so” campaign and Trump will win a third term in a landslide even though he won’t be running.
Harris will be run as the bourbon democrats’ – who’ve learned nothing and forgot nothing – candidate. / ;)
‘bourbon democrats’
That’s a keeper that.
Interesting to see the WEF as the new Confederacy. / ;) The WEF has kept control of Canada and Oz, running in the guise of the Liberal party.
Your point about the rise of the new-old aristocracy is well taken. Looking at UK, France, Germany, and Poland desiring a rush to war with RU – again – makes be think their leaders are still stuck in the late 19th century aristocrats and empires mindset. When I think about time and cultural ideas, 120 years isn’t that long. Not long enough to obliterate the old ‘kings and empires’ mindset.
As far as Poland goes there’s even the particular event that our elites got stuck to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_Uprising
The same theme of peasants not wanting to support arostocrats’ fantasies repeats in history.
The two countries that epithomise aristocratic rule in Europe, with weak kings are Poland and Hungary. Both were dismembered at points in time in the past (Hungary in 1526, 12 years after they put down in a very gruesome way a great uprising that started in Transylvania) because they didn’t care for their peasants and then the peasants didn’t care to fight against enemies.
This is the party that lost to the worlds biggest carnival barker and huckster – twice. It’s takes an entire echo system of hate spewing to keep them busy running around all day every day screaming and yelling with their hair on fire so they don’t notice how utterly inept their own party really is – with their ir deep bench – as they call it. Harris, Mayo Pete, Whitmer, Newsome, Pritzker,etc. Yea, what a bench. Going for the trifecta…
Well done Dems.
The Democrats are following the Beany and Cecil strategy.
“No New Abrams Tanks For Ukraine: U.S. Blocking Australian Delivery as Performance Raises Questions”
That article had a snippet of the truth. If those 50-odd tanks were sent to the Ukraine the Russians would turn them to ash before long under present conditions. But if the Trump regime had the idea of getting an unconditional conflict freeze, then those tanks could become the nucleus of a bigger, better equipped, more modern Ukrainian military to threaten the Russian with before too long. That’s why the US keeps on sending military equipment and intelligence still rather than halt the war for real. The US and the NATO countries are still fighting Russia to try to stop them winning and Trump has signed up for it. No longer Biden’s war but Trump’s war now.
Good points. The quadcopter (“drone”) revolution cuts both ways and those tanks aren’t worth much to a defending army.
It’s worth noting that this situation is more detrimental to Russia, however, as they are on offense. All Trump and his Western allies need to do is keep feeding Ukraine with millions more drones. This is well within their capacity. Frankly I don’t think it matters if they stop sending traditional military hardware at this point.
Western allies, relatively speaking, don’t make cheap drones. The Chinese do, and in this sense, they sent more “arms,” both whole and parts, to Ukraine than any Western country, I suspect (if not in dollar value, in cost effectiveness, at least.) With the West and Z openly antagonizing China, I wonder where they think drone parts are coming from.
The cheap and ubiquitous FPV killer drones are not made in factories as such*–they’re assembled outside of China from very cheap and universal components: carbon fiber sheets, simple electric motors, plastic props, basic chipsets, LiPo batteries, etc.
Now I’m sure you’re right and it’s probably still the case that the majority of these components come from China because their costs are lower and because China sells to everybody.
As for factory-produced drones (like DJI) used more for recon, China doesn’t seem to have restricted the masses of these that flow into Ukraine for that matter either.
It’s very unlikely, but if China were to clamp down it’s not hard for any developed country to build all the components required “in house”. This stuff is peanuts compared to any serious industrial or military production.
* Although these days some of this production is probably being rationalized into “factories” of sorts in the West, Ukraine, and Russia. I think the constant tweaking of FPV specs make it hard to fully rationalize at this stage.
I have to confess I’m curious why Australia, the only country on the continent of Australia, is buying tanks in the first place. Are they planning to have a big tank battle within Australia itself, perhaps against insurgent citizens trying to set up their own breakaway country? Or is it their plan to put 50 Abrams tanks on ships and send them off to some other far away war once the battle breaks out? Perhaps this was a chance for Australia to free up some storage space after realizing the M1’s would never be used.
In any case, it’s easy to see why the US is opposed to this plan:
Foreign sales of the tank must have cratered after their initial performance, and I’m certain the manufacturer is hoping everyone will forget if enough time goes by.
These are old death traps with no place on a European battlefield, someone would have to spend a fortune to modernise them. Like the Bushmaster and other things we sent they lack armour. They were made to shoot from at brown people who can’t shoot back. Everything we have sent gets blown up and not all from drones. You need the real thing in Ukraine and the West doesn’t have any yet. It will be interesting to see what new weapons the EU comes up with.
The Abrams have their faults, that of being designed during the Cold War to fight a war against the greater numbers of the Warsaw Pact. Meaning it was not under armored when it first came out and like most Western military equipment it is too complicated, too expensive, is a gas guzzling, requires a lot of maintenance; but the fight between NATO and the Warsaw Pact was expected to be a “come as you are war” with not much time to build anything new.
THE SUMMIT IN THE SAND – PUTIN AGREES TO MEET TRUMP IN ABU DHABI ON MAY 15-16 – John Helmer
A cup of contrarian analysis in the morning.
I’ll add that, overall, it’s hard for Russia to expect that the USA/NATO will come to a bargaining table when USA/NATO ultimately does not care how many Ukrainians lose their lives…despite any rhetoric to the contrary.
As Admiral Ackbar would say, ‘It’s a trap!’ Trump will probably demand that Russia accept the Kellogg plan and when they refuse, will go in front of the world and say that the Russians could have had peace but wanted war instead so the war is all their fault and the US will stand by the Ukraine till the end.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that Putin makes a jujitsu move, and accepts the exact same terms that Trump is currently trying to jam down Ukraine’s throat.
Trump no longer has to pretend to care. The US saves money by walking away and letting Ukraine collapse.
Russia wins.
US capital pays for all of the infrastructure that’s required to strip mine Ukraine. The money to build the infrastructure gets funneled to Putin/Trump’s respective cutouts and BFFs.
US and Russia split the profits 50/50 for generations to come. If Russia bothers to rebuild Ukraine, it doesn’t have to spend a dime of its own money to do it.
Everybody who is Putin and Trump wins! What’s not to like?
Kind of like Poland in 1939, except Trump lets somebody else do the dirty work.
No, even Putin is subject to domestic forces. No way can Putin legally cede the parts of the four oblasts that are legally part of Russia but not yet controlled by Russia. This is a violation of the Russian constitution. The Russian public would also be furious that they sacrificed so many men and did not get the denazification and the “no Nato” they were promised.
This is an existential struggle for Russia. The General Staff already thinks Putin has been a pussy. If he gave up now, a military coup is not impossible.
From where I sit, it seems that Putin is much more subjected to domestic forces in Russia than Trump is in the USofA…
I cannot prove it but I doubt any coup would ever happen. However for the RU government it is also out of the question to give up any territories. Besides, whatever “Putin” does is the Russian government in fact doing it. Which appears to be excellently integrated into society. I have become very doubtful of the view this is just a small elite or particular number of individuals. And I don´t think Putin has ever acted on his own or in a very small circle in opposition to the rest or secluded from them.
p.s. Doctorow says RU has shut down YT.
p.p.s. If Trump´s policies of recent months have achieved anything it´s more leniency by the Global South towards the RU government regarding the question of diplomacy and peace in Ukraine. If Trump wanted to end the war the best method would have been to be nice to RU´s partners.
We will see if that summit even takes place. I will be surprised if so.
Peskov just said Putin has no plans to travel to Middle-East in May. Such a meeting would make sense, he says, after a proper preparations at experts levels. “So far there are no specifics on this matter.”
In other words, first restore a diplomatic normalcy, then prepare agenda and only then have a top level summit.
Indeed, why would anyone expect the West to bargain in good faith? They got two groups of stubborn Russians to slaughter each other to the last man without spilling any Western blood.
Putin has to talk–or at least show willingness–because this is a bleeding wound for Russia and and an even bigger one for the ‘Russky Mir’. Western warmongers have reason to cackle for as many more years as it takes for Russia to eke out a pyrrhic victory here.
Saw my first Brown Agouti this morning in the Peruvian jungle, Charles Darwin thought it was the tastiest meat he’d ever eaten, I was content with the breakfast spread at our eco resort.
Are you on the Ucayali River?
Tambopata river…
p.s.
Happen to be in exactly the right place for the Eta Aquarid meteor shower which peaks in the wee hours tonight. Supposed to be 50 per hour-
Cool, you won’t have any light pollution to speak of, I imagine!
‘manifestation’ subculture and otherwise intelligent people believing you could will your goals into being without any change in behavior on your part were already awful but AI has supercharged it . my mom has this slop on all the time in her room – AI generated voices and images repeat stories where person suffers and they sit there and then give up their free will in a sudden epiphany . i’ve told her it was fake and they have obvious voice artifacts but she just won’t listen to me
I am beginning to think that John Michael Greer is correct that AI is a conduit for malevolent spirits. I am only half joking at this point.
> AI is a conduit for malevolent spirits
That is precisely what C. S. Lewis would have thought. Of that — having read and re-read his novel That Hideous Strength — I am certain.
AI is just a shinier replacement for Alcasan’s guillotined head, with no need for all the messy organic stuff.
https://the-silent-planet.fandom.com/wiki/Professor_Filostrato
That Hideous Strength is a wonderful & prophetic book. Its villains tear down an Oxford forest to erect a building called the NICE.
“Anthony Albanese, riding anti-Trump wave, claims victory for Labor Party in Australia”
Not so much an anti-Trump wave as showing that the opposition had Trump-like ideas. And after the past month or two that brand is seriously off. Most people here did not need that sort of chaos introduced into the local scene. Some did however. Like local billionairess Gina Reinhart – the person who wanted her mines to be declared tax-free zones. Seems that she has gone full MAGA and was wearing a MAGA cap walking down the streets of New York. She is urging the opposition to stick with Trump policies and complains that Aussie votes just don’t get Trump like American voters do-
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/05/gina-rinehart-liberal-party-trump-australia-election-ntwnfb
And she thinks that Argentina’s President Milei is outstanding. Maybe what they say about billionaires is true. That when you become one, you effectively have a 20% drop in IQ.
Albanese had a great endorsement from Assange
Still adore THAT painting of her LOL
Most insulting take-down of someone who deserved it since the one of Churchill (which actually wasn’t that unflattering, just realistic).
(Twas meant to be reply to Rev Kev but glitch in the matrix or fat finger syndrome).
You do wonder if there is a bit of the Dorian Gray effect going on here-
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/21/gina-rinehart-portrait-national-gallery-of-australia-removal-ban-vincent-namatjira-ntwnfb
Personally I loved the reference to the Streisand Effect in that article, which arguably South Park initiated. I saw their trailer for the new series.
After some choppy waters in recent years where they have struggled to do satire in a world where truth is as strange as their fiction, if the trailer is anything to go by, they’ve really decided to go at certain people and institutions with both barrels to get back ahead of the curve.
Elon: yep.
Lack of ATC controllers and inevitable plane disaster coming to USA thanks to Reagan decision in early 1980s: yep.
Canada vs USA: yep (note the musical callback to the box office smash movie).
Kanye/influencers: yep.
Plenty of other stuff too. I really really hope Matt & Trey rip the Repubs a new a-hole. I know they hate both main parties and have traditionally hated the Dems more but they need to pivot this time and if the trailer is anything to go by they have……HARD!
PS Fans of the 28 Days later franchise – note what they did there? This is really up to the minute but subtle humour. A+
Oh my. That trailer promises some good s—.
The opening audio effects similar to “The Man in the High Castle.” The depiction of the Master Control Program from “Tron.” And, “blame Canada.” Doesn’t everyone? Plus, the kidz being chased by Diddy(?) through a Roger Dean ‘alien’ landscape. Why is Kenny(?) shown breaking out with super mutagenic Bird Flu?
I’m waiting for the show to be censored by the DOGE Catchers.
As for “28 Days Later,” I’m waiting in an-tici-pation for a Trump themed “100 Days Later” horror film, “Based on a True Story!”
A minor quibble with the Maga crowd going against boycotts: Massie is not part of Maga, he’s closer to a Ron Paul type and one who Trump has already threatened to primary for the crime of holding the same positions regardless of who holds the presidency. Luna, I believe, was surprised when her male “allies” did not support her request to be allowed to vote remotely while recovering from a difficult childbirth. Probably misunderstood the pro natalist rhetoric.
Self driving trucks seem to have nudged their way into the news again, not going to link because it’s an msm carpet bombing and so easy find…
My questions remains how much do they cost, and who will buy them?
From the laity I have the impression that there are many small trucking companies. Also from my drives on i-5 Amazon trucks are ubiquitous and poorly operated between long beach and sf, will a self driving truck not have the same just in time motivations that induce the drivers to be constantly leapfrogging each other for whatever small advantage they may gain, at the expense of the common citizen. Then theres the 10 to palm springs, totally clogged with semis of every sort and a parallel train track with massive trains. In short, the same people who get the cheapest labor available are going to buy a likely expensive self driving truck?
I don’t think you can get there from here and the tech lord vision of a monochromatic automated highway is delusionally dystopian.
It will be interesting to watch.
No owner/driver to externalize operating and maintenance costs onto, and hold to account for traffic fatalities.
No one in the cab to override the cone and strip hacks the adoring public will prank them with.
The route they are using is through the most sparsely populated section of east Texas, so these inevitabilities may take a while to manifest.
One form the buyout action is taking due to tariffs:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/skechers-stock-rockets-on-buyout-deal-after-tumbling-in-wake-of-tariff-concerns-4dbf5a04?mod=home_ln/
Investment firm 3G Capital will pay $63 per share in cash, or a 28% premium, for Skechers, which has seen its stock tumble on concerns over tariffs
Unbelievable but true – here we have analysis about the election results in Romania that doesn’t mention Putin, Russia or voters who can’t appreciate what their betters are doing for them: How we got here and why a lack of trust in others influences the way we vote. Besides being a tacit admission that Russian conspiracies and meddling have nothing to little to do with what’s happening in Romania and elsewhere, it talks about long-forbidden things like the effects of inequality and injustice on public’s trust in the establishment. True, it avoids calling out neoliberalism for in effect tearing the fabric of society apart, and certainly wouldn’t dare discuss the democratic deficit and the incompetence of the establishment throughout the EU, but it’s a start nonetheless.
I’ve noticed similar outbreak of sober and sane analysis and critiques from unusual quarters in Bulgaria as well. I wonder whether others have noticed the same in other parts of Europe.
Well, those are other diseases that we don’t have in the West.
Your attitude has been noted, comrade. Oh, yes, it has been noted.
(adapted from Dr. Zhivago)
Thank you OIFVet. That was, IMO, a very good article and I agree with much of it. We can add that mainstream media is now spreading distrust like crazy and one of the results is that there is a not precisely a lot of trust in the msm right now. One can argue that the msm is quite possibly, involuntarily, pushing migration of the populaces towards those so-called “anty-system” parties. The least we can say is that they aren’t helping at all to keep trust high.
One factor is the politicization of everything by the media. For instance, the electricity shutdown in Spain. With PSOE party in power conservative media and politicians tried, from the first minute, to find political responsibilities precisely were they do not reside. Neoliberalism dictates that most if not all must be privately owned as it is the case of the Spanish transport and distribution grid. Instead of searching for potential responsibilities within the various private companies who own the system most chose to make it political and distrust is sown. No matter what the causes were. Now today there is a meeting after new data has been gathered and we might possibly have more clues tomorrow on the causes but this won’t stop politicization of the subject anyway.
OIF Vet. Thanks for the article. I think that Romania also suffers from being the country in central Europe that wasn’t prepared at all for EU membership but that was ushered in so that it could send a few million plumbers to western Europe.
From Wikipedia, 2022 numbers, the two largest immigrant groups in Italy: “le comunità più numerose erano quella rumena (1 081 836 residenti), quella albanese (416 829).” In the reporting on the Romanian elections that I read in the Italian newspaper this morning, the center-right candidates mentioned bringing back this enormous emigration to Romania. Nostalgia, but understandable. (Albanians have been migrating to Italy since, ohhh, 1400, but they are “neighbors” to both countries.)
These two paragraphs do call out neoliberalism. These facts are stark. The situation in Romania is worse than I understood it to be (and, again, I’d argue that the country was brought into the EU to be exploited):
Damning statistics, I’d venture.
As to sober and sane analysis, I am seeing it from many quarters in Italy, with a large number of young commentators and journalists who have much to say of value. Being Italians, much of their criticism is also spirited and witty. The influence of Pope Francis, who was very Italian in style, also adds to the quality of the critiques. The Chocolate City once had the nickname Petrograd of Italy, and the place has a long and glorious revolutionary past. So I am here among the raging commies, chocolatiers, and fans of vitello tonnato — the U.S., U.K., and German tendencies toward apocalyptic thinking do not apply here.
The kids in Italy are alright :) Here, most are content to party, the rest seek the way into easy apparatchik sinecures by being good party men and women.
Thank you for this posting.
The author is still young. At my age, I wouldn’t have considered writing something like this:
“” I don’t think we can take out of the equation the role that communism played in shaping the type of society and culture of distrust that we experience today. The social arrangements of the communist period — I’m referring here to the imposed property regime, to various economic and demographic policies — contributed significantly to this.”
We are talking, for example, about the anti-abortion decree, about population displacements, when people were moved like pawns on a chessboard : they were taken from a village in Bărăgan and moved to Balta Albă, in Bucharest,” explains Radu Uszkai, PhD in Philosophy , assistant professor at ASE and member of the Center for Research in Applied Ethics.
“Then, the experience of the secret police during the communist period was also extremely important. We don’t know exactly how many people were informants for the Securitate, but we know for sure that there were a lot of them. And this experience had a profound impact on those who lived it — people who are still alive.”
EXCEP THIS:
“After the fall of communism, the transition in the 1990s and early 2000s was extremely difficult. They were years of great economic hardship, years of many personal tragedies, which created a ‘jungle’ social climate, in which survival seemed to depend on superhuman individual efforts. Values such as solidarity took a back seat. So the communist and transitional experience played a key role in shaping the current culture of mistrust,” Uszkai continues.”
In my assessment, overall, Romania had the best years for its general population during the socialist years, especially after the Soviets were convinced to retreat and take away their troops.
For many, many years after 1991, Romanians were on the first place in the world in terms of home ownership – yes, prior to that most of the appartments built by the state belonged to the state but kind of leased for life to the family living there (now they are still on top 5).
Historically, after 1600s, Romanian lands were full blown aristocracies and I noticed not long after the “Revolution” an emergent desire to get back there. Bosses didn’t only want to make profit out of your work, but also to kiss their asses as a job task…
All the while the Romanian peasant is a very self centered, independent type that wants little “patronizing”.
In my assessment, overall, Romania had the best years for its general population during the socialist years
It is my view as well. And that is despite Ceausescu’s megalomania, anti-abortion policies, and ill-fated decision to starve the population in the 80s in order to build a full-blown chemical industry within 7 years, so that the US couldn’t sanction him and strangulate the economy.
Large percentage of homeownership in BG as well, for the reasons you stated but also because the population was mostly rural until the industrialization drive after 1945.
What’s missing is objective discourse about the past, warts and good things alike. Instead there are are two intractable and equally delusional sides: one that glorifies the communist past and one that glorifies the czarist past. And while they fight over the past, the present and the future are slipping away, stolen by corruption, mostly extractive rentier economy, low flat tax and high indirect taxes (like the VAT), stilted education, broken down social fabric and increasing inability of government to carry out even its basic functions.
Amidsts all that, saying you are a “leftie” is akin to taking down your pants in polite company. Heck, three years ago my then-GF nearly chocked when I suggested that high inequality is part of the reason for many of the problems and why the average Ivan in the province can’t abide city liberals talking about stuff that is far removed from his daily struggles.
So it’s good to see this article, and others in BG, breaking the silence and injecting a dose of needed reality to what is a mostly delusional orthodox neoliberal information environment in our neck of the woods. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a real reassessment.
We would need a bit more hunger and poverty before people start using their brains. So far with all this sugary diet, the composition of the intestinal flora seems to have changed and taken over the mind…
I wonder how soon Trump will be replaced?
Not soon enough. The latest triggering moment is that he is supposedly meeting with Erdogan to discuss the Ukraine war:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5282913-trump-talks-erdogan-ukraine/
I can’t think of a worse influence on Donald J. Trump. A fellow narcissistic megalomaniac who isn’t “agreement capable.” I guess John Bolton wasn’t available. What could possibly go wrong?
I can’t think of a worse influence on Donald J. Trump. A fellow narcissistic megalomaniac who isn’t “agreement capable.”
I’d say Erdogan proved perfectly agreement capable when it came to toppling Assad and destroying Syria’s last shred of sovereignty.
Trump would not move his 78-year old narcissistic self across the world for a mere trifle, which means first, that this meeting is a very big deal, and secondly that he intends to bring his beautiful skillset of blackmailer-in-chief to the table, and also the full authority of the presidency in order to seal the deal.
In geopolitical terms, the visit is very dangerous for both Russia and Iran, given Turkey’s strategic location.
If Turkey opens the straits for NATO, I suspect Russia’s goose might quickly get cooked. Given that the mineral ‘deal’ gives the US formal cover for boots on the ground, and that Russia might have to continue the war indefinitely, tactically the US would want to make nice with Erdogan and take over the Black Sea. To me the entire situation looks grim.
Erdogan would not appreciate letting the US push Turkiye out of the Black Sea and would never allow it. In any case, you trust Erdogan’s word at your peril. He will always betray you.
“Russia’s goose might quickly get cooked.”
With what military force? A paper thin military with no battlefield experience against a force still ramping up with battle-hardened soldiers.
Yeah, I’m sure Russia is shaking in its boots.
I can’t wait to see all those mighty ships do much better in the Black Sea than in the Red one.
I’ve tried to be very careful in musings that touch on this. My mantra is stay in your lane and I can’t possibly as a Brit/Aussie get to grips with a lot of beltway stuff. Generally I think the 3 letter institutions don’t want the USA to fall and though I’m fairly sure they’ve “wargamed out” a number of solutions I think in order of preference:
(1) Their preferred solution is that once a good old fashioned crash hits (which will make the Great Depression look like a hiccup) then his Cabinet will use the 25th. This is their preferred solution – they really don’t want to stoke anti-federal fires; or
(2) If the Cabinet is too cowed then yes they’ll have to act. Probably once things are so demonstrably bad that they can’t be labelled “those bad feds”.
Either way at the moment we outside the USA have come to the conclusion that Wall St has not priced in things and unicorns are still considered potentially buyable in USA. A lot of us have been navel gazing with our own elections/concerns and it’ll be when the shortages hit the Dollar store shelves in USA that we’ll watch out for things to kick off. *IF* this happens, I don’t think it’ll be a one-and-done thing. Pres, VP and a convenient committee of (say) 20 Repubs involving the Chair of the House will be unalived at a time when Congress is in session, so as to elect the now Democrat House Leader as 3rd in line and sworn in. This is not because I am naive enough to think the 3 letter agencies think the Dems are the solution….merely because I think they must lance the entire boil and make it very clear that an entire party is the problem. I don’t think they’d be any different were it a Democrat led scenario, nor do I think they will intervene further after that to help Dems. They just want someone to be obviously in charge who is vaguely sane. I’m pretty sure a House-Leader-Made-President would be told in no uncertain terms that (s)he is under instructions from the establishment.
History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. In Rome the internal services to the leader eventually called the shots.
Yeah, in that scenario the problem is finding anyone “vaguely sane” as you say. Less disruptive than Trump, possible, but surely insane enough to keep running things “as usual” meaning this more and more distrust and discomfort as time goes by.
Thanks. Plus part of my thinking re the 2nd possibility is that they’d want to ensure the only people with the dirt on the new President must be them.
And given the rumours that Vance has two beards he is absolutely out of the question…… ;-)
Vance being “The Twice Bearded One” is not a hinderance. Over here we call it ‘Hillbilly Hospitality.’
Chris Hedges
Trumpland
https://scheerpost.com/2025/05/04/chris-hedges-trumpland/
Here’s my musical answer:
The Country Can’t Afford Ya
(Sung to the tune of, “Hotel California” by the Eagles)
On a dark MAGA highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of depression
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I foresaw a terrible sight
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
My wallet got really light
There he stood on the Fox News
I heard the pundits bellow
And I was thinking to myself, this guy’s brains could have turned to Flan or Jell-O
Then he opened his pie-hole
And I saw feet of clay
There were voices down the I-95 corridor, I thought I heard them say:
Chorus
Sorry, but the country can’t afford ya
Such lovely place, (such a lovely place) ’til you ran your race
We’re plumb out of luck, and the country can’t afford ya
It’s the time of year, (it’s the time of year), hope will disappear
His mind is MAGA-world-twisted, he got the sycophant friends
He got a lot of Shakespeare qualities; we know how this play ends
How they dance in his courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the left-wing: “Please bring me my whine”
They said, “We haven’t had this sort of clown here since 1885”
And still, those voices are calling from far away …
Wake you up in the middle of the night just to hear them say:
Chorus:
Sorry, but the country can’t afford ya
Such a lovely place, (such a lovely place)
Post it on BookFace
We were livin’ it up but the country can’t afford ya
What a nice surprise, (what a nice surprise) failure’s super-sized!
Madness has no ceiling
Due process on ice
And she said “we are all just prisoners here, of our own devices”
And in the Musk-man’s chambers, they gathered for the feast
They stab it with their DOGE-y knives, but they just can’t kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the Musk-man, “We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!”
[Guitar solo outro; Don Felder, Joe Walsh]
3 1/2 years.
/s
Simon and Garfunkel were on it back in the early sixties.
From “Mrs. Robinson”:
“Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidates’ debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you’ve got to choose
Every way you look at it, you lose.”
Photos from study of capillaries. And explanation of study. Not looking good. Clear evidence of damage in those with long COVID. Evidence of more modest damage in those recovered, but it’s there.
https://x.com/1goodtern/status/1919343560903598242?s=46
I wish there were some easily accessible resource that laid out succinctly the Covid issues.
There are too many swirling counter programs to sort out.
Scare stories about pending pandemics this summer make search for truth more pressing, especially for those of us with health issues.
Was it a lab leak?
Whodunnit?
Are there other verified labs?
If so, who built and now operates those?
mRNA impact on people, good, bad, too soon to tell?
Is DNA modified by the different Covid shots?
VAERS lessons?
I’m old enough to remember when Clinton and Obama and the Democrats accused Gaddafi of doing 1% of what Israel is actually doing, and we blew up Libya, turning it into an open-air slave market, and Clinton laughed with glee when Gaddafi was captured and sodomized to death.
Liberal Democrat consultants and politicians really are evil.
Where is that Libyan gold?
That disappeared from the news cycle quickly.
Speking about gold that disappeared from the news cycle quickly, I guess we won’t be seeing Fort Knox audit anytime soon.
Here in Sonoma County we had more than the average rainfall, well spread out so there was little flooding.
As a result the grass and brush has grown higher than I have seen in my two decades of living here.
It’s going to be a hell of a fire season.
And we are just beginning to see the results of widespread immune damage from Covid, which will get progressively worse.
It will be interesting to see how well the Trump Administration deals with all the crises it has caused and that Nature is causing.
It is already a heck of a show and I expect the volume will be turned up to 13 ( 11 is so 20th Century).
Stay safe and keep your humor dry.
Another case of the MAGA people doing something that makes sense to this leftist.
Though I worry that they are doing it for the wrong reasons. Protesting the actions of a foreign government have nothing to do with religious bigotry, though Israel constantly tries to conflate the two.
The world is getting weirder and weirder.
The sea-drone bringing down a fighter jet in the Black sea.
Nice to see the Ukrainians providing Russians with more arguments for taking Odessa, and celebrarating it…
All the more reason that UK, France, and Germany need to be liberated…
What about Romania? Seems likely that even if Ukraine ends up a landlocked rump state, the Azov Nazi types will flee to neighboring states. Plus, there is Bulgaria. Both have coastlines on the Black Sea.
They should better make sure no drone leaves their shores…
damn.
finally got around to the rolling stone AI thing.
thats likely the most worrisome story i have read yet regarding AI.
put that “Mind” in one of those armed robot dogs…and away we go.
That was a wild read.
Meanwhile, over in Taiwan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE0oRLPeJCg/
Mass Protests in Taipei, Opposition Imprisoned, MSM Silent, War Preparations | Dr. Joanna Lei
Says officials from the USA infiltrating their government more and more.
thanks!
#COVID
Good grief, that tern@ thread …
The UK is reaping what “Let ‘er rip!” #BoJo and every leader since hath sown.
Absolutely tragic.
“MAGA Leaders Defend Americans’ Right to Boycott Israel”
MAGA to the left of Dems on BDS was not on my 2025 US Politics bingo card!
Now for some good news-
‘Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
🚨BREAKING: The National Institutes of Health has shut down research labs accused of conducting deadly experiments on thousands of beagles over the past 40+ years.’
https://xcancel.com/bennyjohnson/status/1919375920399323172#m
A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse
Acknowledgement that this stuff is basically garbage is increasingly prevalent.
And it cannot be fixed:
Level generators for computer games can be stochastic. Vital business and civil system must not be stochastic.
This is lunacy, like everything else about this timeline.
And finally the NY Times, the Source of Truth for many, is stating the obvious.
The Times still personifies LLMs, like they “invent” answers, rather than the fact that they return statistically valid, but wrong, outputs.
re: Taibbi and Trump criticism
Unfortunately I just missed ATW.
But Taibbi just posted this important comment (important on the basis also that it can be disputed and I assume is intended to be disputed):
“(…)
The criticism “You don’t criticize Trump enough” is maddening because you learn it has to be constant to be accepted, and there’s seldom any effort to acknowledge opposing factors. It’s not true of Andrew, but in 99% of cases, these criticisms are coming from a very specific type of person.
They’re usually people who don’t even acknowledge the existence of huge ongoing threats to speech not related to Donald Trump. I get people who demand features on Rümeysa Öztürk or the removal of LGBTQ+ books from regional school libraries who don’t know or care what the Digital Services Act is, or the Online Safety Act or any of a dozen other online content codes around the world — many of which involve criminal penalties or even jail for speech — and declare with religious certainty that there is no such thing as digital censorship. They think that because these matters simply are not covered.
If there’s no effort to self-examine, then it makes it hard to talk about the Trump issues with speech. The Öztürk story for instance really would be an ominous development if it were for sure true that she was detained for writing one op-ed, which is the contention of her attorneys. But Marco Rubio has specifically denied this, saying there’s more to the story, and though he easily may not be telling the truth, it’s infuriating to see that key detail ignored in coverage of the top papers. There’s also no effort to compare it to similar behaviors under the previous regime, in which people not even convicted of crimes were debanked or removed from the Internet or targeted under the Klan Act or had their online fundraisers to pay for legal bills shut down because they were at J6 (not even inside, in some cases). Or there was the other type of J6 attendee who was actually charged with crimes like disorderly conduct and got jail time under the premise that participating meant they were “celebrating” the violent conduct of others (exactly the logic of some of the deportations).
Whether or not one agrees with that is not the point: the likelihood that this background is part of the motivation for the current defunding of universities and/or denial of visas is relevant to the story. I think the Trump administration is making serious errors in its approach to 1A issues, but the desire of people to view these matters in isolation and not as part of a continuum that included (and in Europe still very much includes) wide-scale speech suppression in other directions is very frustrating.
“by Andrew Sullivan:
19. Apr.
Just made the mistake at looking at the publication that with increasing levels of nerve calls itself The Free Press.
The almost total avoidance of coverage of the current government threats to freedoms as basic as habeas corpus, due process and free speech on campus is quite something. And when there is coverage, it’s nitpicking in order to defend Trump.
Did they mean none of it?”
(…)”
+ comments
https://substack.com/@taibbi/note/c-114775296