Links 6/17/2026

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1. AG June 17, 2026 at 7:11 am

   re: architecture China + Armenia

   Jinling Art Museum / AZL Architects
   2024
   https://www.architecturelab.net/jinling-art-museum-azl-architects/

   Guesthouse of the Armenian Writers Union
   Sevan Lake, Armenia
   Geworg Kotschar
   1965
   https://architectuul.com/architecture/guesthouse-of-the-armenian-writers-union

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2. disc_writes June 17, 2026 at 7:19 am

   Re: 21st Century Schizoid Man

   A great post by Aurelien about the PMC’s (and everybody else’s) growing detachment from reality. And cool reference to King Crimson.

   However, schizophrenia (what Aurelien means) and schizoidism (what the title says) are two different things, though some say that they exist on a continuum.

   Schizoids (like myself) have no hallucinations or delusions. We are very much anchored in reality. The problem is that we cannot engage with reality. The “schizein” of schizoids is not separation from reality, but separation between body and mind.

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   1. TimH June 17, 2026 at 10:12 am

      I suspect, Aurelien being British and of the age, that the title was a hat tip to a certain P. McGoohan (R.I.P.).

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      1. flora June 17, 2026 at 4:30 pm

         Yes, it was. He even includes a utube link to the King Crimson rock band playing the album’s title song.

         ~~
         It’s a very good essay. There’s one missing bit, I think. Those above are getting rich and justifying their behaviors with some version of Thatcher’s old maxim “There is no alternative” are delusional to think robbing the companies and the countries can go on forever. In terms of personal enrichment, however, their “reasons” are a con shared by their class.

         Now the bit I thought should be mentioned.
         Why has neoliberalism held sway for over 40 years in the West when it’s clearly impoverishing the West? This impoverishment was recognized in the West over 20 years ago. Why do politicians still hold to it, even apart from the obvious financial incentives from donors?

         The following theory isn’t mine, I remember reading it somewhere years ago and it made sense to me.
         The reason neoliberalism has held on and money itself has become a near godlike power is that neoliberalism’s rise occurred during the old Soviet Union’s fall. The Western neoliberals touted the West won the Cold Was because of neoliberal economics in the West. Neoliberalism won the war. And with that argument, neoliberalism became the preeminent economic theory blessed with victory. How could it’s rightness be denied.

         Well of course its rightness can be denied. NC writers and commentators have been denying its rightness for over a decade.

         It’s just possible the loss in Ukr and Iran will finally begin to undo the neoliberal economic dogma mindset of politicians and economists, undo the ‘greed is good’ mantra, undo the Friedman Doctrine .

         per Wiki:
         The Friedman doctrine, also called shareholder theory, is a normative theory of business ethics advanced by economist Milton Friedman that holds that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.[1] This shareholder primacy approach views shareholders as the economic engine of the organization and the only group to which the firm is socially responsible. As such, the goal of the firm is to increase its profits and maximize returns to shareholders.[1] Friedman argued that the shareholders can then decide for themselves what social initiatives to take part in rather than have an executive whom the shareholders appointed explicitly for business purposes decide such matters for them.[2]

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         1. flora June 17, 2026 at 4:48 pm

            Shorter: Neoliberalism, neoliberal economics is the delusion. Neoliberalism economics has just lost the West a major economic war, imo.

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3. The Rev Kev June 17, 2026 at 7:24 am

   “The Burning Borders – will Jolani’s Takfiri Forces Intervene in Lebanon?”

   Jolani may think that this is a great idea of having his Jihadist fighters go fight and die for Israel but the ground troops may feel differently. And Iran could let their own feelings be known here by sending Jolani a brief message with a set of longitude and latitude coordinates on it. And when resolved, shows it to be the exact location of Syria’s Presidential Palace. It’s one thing for Jolani to be chopping people’s heads off but I am sure that he is not willing to have an Iranian ballistic missile dropped on his own.

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   1. Aurelien June 17, 2026 at 9:47 am

      She’s some months behind the curve: the story began a year ago, and has nothing to do with fighting for Israel. “Elements” of the new Syrian regime have never forgiven Hezbollah for their role in propping up the Assad regime in Syria, and swore revenge on them through attacks in Lebanon, not just against Hezbollah, but against the Shia population generally. The same “elements” have blamed Hezbollah for various actual and alleged bomb attacks in Syria itself. The Lebanese Army has been deployed on the border for a long time and there have been some armed clashes. The 84th Division is indeed made up of foreign jihadi fighters, who are especially motivated against Hezbollah. The cynical explanation is that Damascus has sent the foreign jihadis (whom no-one will take back) to the border to get themselves killed and resolve the problem.

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      1. Polar Socialist June 17, 2026 at 3:34 pm

         I believe the current leadership needs this private army to stay in power. It’s not like they were elected or have the popular support. The tribal elders, on the other hand, would likely prefer the jihadists to be “disposed of” to regain the power al-Assads took away and always promised to return, but did it rather selectively and ephemerally.

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4. Christopher Mann June 17, 2026 at 7:26 am

   B-52 Crash

   “We lost eight great Americans,” Hayes said. “This crash is deemed to be unsurvivable, and right now, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their loved ones.”

   Meanwhile, the rest of the world rejoices that 8 Waffen US are dead and their murder-machine is no more. I will be keeping my thoughts and prayers for the little girls of Minab school.

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5. Vicky Cookies June 17, 2026 at 7:28 am

   Re: Feds charge 15 anti-ICE activists. Count 1, conspiracy, is the bulk of the indictment, and along with the charges against students in Michigan, shows just how silly it is for activists to rely on Signal. Never say anything to a phone you wouldn’t say directly to a cop. Counts 4 and 5 allege violations of 18 USC §2261, the text of which explicitly specifies intimate partners. It’s a domestic violence statute. Unless there’s more than the government is letting on in indictment, or I’m misreading things (or there’s case law applying this to police), these charges are government harassment and retaliation.

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   1. Ex-PFC Chuck June 17, 2026 at 6:18 pm

      The fed’s intention is probably to coerce them into plea bargains by the threat of bankrupting them via discovery legal fees.

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6. Wukchumni June 17, 2026 at 7:37 am

   UFC* 86

   Donald Trump versus Iran

   2 Empires go into the octagon, one fades badly and cries uncle (Sam)

   PPV(HD) $12,000,000,000.00

   * Ultimate Folding Championship

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   1. The Rev Kev June 17, 2026 at 7:44 am

      Rumour has it that Pete Hegseth visited the Oracle of Delphi in Greece and upon return to Washington DC, was excited to report to Trump that they told him-

      ‘If you cross the Strait of Hormuz, a great empire will be destroyed.’

      Rumour also has it that soon Pete Hegseth will be found sitting outside the Pentagon with his belongings in a cardboard box.

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      1. AG June 17, 2026 at 7:52 am

         👍😂

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   2. Lefty Godot June 17, 2026 at 11:21 am

      A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you’re talking serious money.

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7. AG June 17, 2026 at 8:12 am

   re: French nukes

   This is sort of funny.

   French report plans for new gen. hypersonic nuke missile
   https://www.defense.gouv.fr/dga/actualites/dga-commande-developpement-du-missile-hypersonique-asn4g-mbda
   The report has about 4 lines.

   The German blog reporting it, blows it up into an entire article:
   (can´t machine-translate any more)
   https://www.telepolis.de/article/6-100-km-h-Frankreich-baut-eine-unaufhaltsame-neue-Atomwaffe-11333267.html

   What we know for sure: No technical details are revealed by the French. But the new technology is supposed to reach Mach 5 (Russians “WOOOW”) and it´s highly exclusive “only few countries have such exquisite knowhow.”

   I am seriously impressed.
   And of course it makes us so much safer.

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   1. PlutoniumKun June 17, 2026 at 12:46 pm

      Its a replacement for the existing Mach 3 ramjet powered ASMP missile – it may be more of a significant upgrade than an entirely new weapon. The ASMP has been around since the 1980’s – its launched from Rafale (ground and aircraft carrier variants) and is thought to have a range of around 3-500km or more. Its role in the French nuclear force is said to be as a nuclear ‘warning shot’ missile – intended to signal that the next step is the use of strategic ballistic missiles.

      The new replacement missile will presumably be intended to fly faster and for longer ranges – its been in development since around 2014 and may use a scramjet to hit hypersonic speeds. It doesn’t seem to represent anything particularly new tactically or strategically, but presumably it gives the French the option of making a conventional version that could have similar characteristics to the Russian Kinzhal, albeit in a more compact and probably more manoeuvrable package.

      But historically the French have been very keen on making a clear distinction between their nuclear and conventional capable forces, in order to prevent any, shall we say, misunderstandings when missiles are flying. But that’s more or less gone out the door now that the Russians have mixed and matched their launchers.

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      1. AG June 17, 2026 at 1:39 pm

         Thanks
         (Kinzhal to my knowledge is 3 three times as fast as this missile is supposed to be.
         What are the fastest and truly operational medium range missiles that the West has which have no classical ballistic trajectory and could be used the same way as Kinzhals for e.g. bunker-busting?)

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         1. ambrit June 17, 2026 at 6:18 pm

            Like the bunker under a certain public edifice in Washington, DofC, USA?

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         2. PlutoniumKun June 18, 2026 at 4:58 am

            Kinzhal, strictly speaking, isn’t a true hypersonic in the way the term is usually applied – its a converted ballistic missile that flies on a generally flat trajectory. This makes it extremely fast, but with quite limited manoeuvrability and a predictable trajectory. A ‘true’ hypersonic with a scramjet can, at least theoretically, be far more difficult to intercept as it can follow a much less predictable course. So speed isn’t everything.

            So if it works (and the French are generally very good at this type of thing – they are particularly advanced in ramjet technology), it will be a far more sophisticated weapon with a greater ability to evade the most advanced defences. However, its also likely to be much more difficult to manufacture at scale and cost. So you can’t really compare them in real world combat. Both are designed for specific roles within layered attack strategies, so are only superficially comparable. And we don’t even know if the French are interested in using them for conventional strike missions. Hypersonics are generally very over-rated when it comes to conventional strike missions – there are only a very narrow range of targets that justify the very high cost and limitations in terms of targeting and payload.

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            1. AG June 18, 2026 at 7:54 am

               Thanks!
               Would it be realistic to assume the cost will go down eventually?

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8. The Rev Kev June 17, 2026 at 8:23 am

   “Venezuelan Gov’t Signs Deals with General Electric and IMPSA to Boost Electricity Supply”

   I’m going to guess that all those mysterious explosions and sabotage of Venezuelan electrical infrastructure have finally come to an end. But if I were Venezuela, I would be extremely wary of US promises to boost their electrical output. After Iraq was invaded and their electrical infrastructure was wrecked, contracts were give to US corporations to restore the Iraqi electrical grid but year after year, it just did not happen.

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9. ChrisFromGA June 17, 2026 at 8:36 am

   It’s Fed Meeting Day!

   Rate Cuts Are Dead

   Yo, Kevin, man
   What’s up?
   I think the Fed might cut rates today …
   Get outta here!

   Taco screams, “CUT RATES NOW!! OR SOME HEADS WILL FALL!!”
   That’s the kind of talk that makes my stomach crawl
   Picture a zombie realtor in a tacky white pant suit
   Or imagine a rotting rate cut shopping for fresh fruit

   You can’t cause – rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead! (Give it to me)
   Rate cuts are dead! (Hya-eye!)
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead

   When rate cuts died, Taco was all alone
   I heard that when they died, he was sitting on the throne
   Alas, poor rate cuts, the markets knew you well
   Now they dwell forever in the Greenspan hotel

   ‘Cause rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead
   Rate cuts are dead! (Give it to me)
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead!
   Rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead

   [CNBC anchor] The Federal Reserve meets Wednesday …

   Jay Powell was a hero to most, he showed a lot of spine
   An orange man tried to fire him, and now he’s on the back nine (What?)
   No rate cuts for midterms, too dangerous for the masses
   Let’s clean up this rate cut crap and send ’em off to Vegas
   And now the markets are its slave (slave?)
   Even from the grave

   Rate cuts are dead
   Rate cuts are dead
   Rate cuts are dead
   Rate cuts est mort

   [Spoken]

   Jay Powell was a good Fed chair, his pressers were electrifying!
   His dot plot schtick made Taco sick, now rate cut schemes are dyin’
   To all you pimps making money on rate cut game
   How do you sleep, don’t you feel the shame?
   Jay went through the test, now he’s out of this mess
   Be my guest and let it rest

   Rate cuts are dead
   Rate cuts esta muerto
   Rate cuts have left the building!

   Hit me, give it to me, give it to me
   Listen up, hit it up
   I’ve got a reason to believe we’ll all be eating beans from a tin can
   I’ve got a reason to believe we’ll all be eating beans from tin cans
   I’ve got a reason to believe we’ll all be eating beans from tin cans
   I’ve got a reason to believe your REITs are headin’ to the trash can

   Cause rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead, rate cuts are dead

   Lyrics adapted from the underrated band “Living Colour” and song “Elvis is Dead”

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nvpRkn_R5g

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10. Salman Rostam June 17, 2026 at 8:40 am

    The subject of Michael Shellenberger’s next book has been fortold…

    The Merchants of Doubt are coming for Extreme Event Attribution science

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11. AG June 17, 2026 at 9:14 am

    re: Ukraine maritime drone warfare + RU MOZYR defense

    Maybe of interest for Haig Hovaness and other drone experts here:

    Mike Mihajlovic has a new long blog piece on the subject:
    
    Ukraine’s Naval Drone Program: Origins, Development, and the Organizations Behind It [i]
    Evolving maritime threats that may cause wider conflict…
    https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/ukraines-naval-drone-program-origins

    +

    Martyanov with quick info on latest RU defense of silos against MIRVs…the 1980s MOZYR system revived
    https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2026/06/ad-of-important.html

    fwiw:
    https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/mozyr-kaz.htm

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12. Ghost in the Machine June 17, 2026 at 9:20 am

    If Bibi released a bunch of Epstein files to sabotage the deal that would be a big favor to US citizens. Get rid of these people. And up and coming politicians would certainly see the risk in succumbing to these traps. They obviously felt unaccountable before, I guess assuming the kompromat would never be used. But now? , It would also damage the US relationship with Israel. How would most Americans interpret Israel’s use of Epstein? It seems to me fully using the Epstein files is full of risk for Israel.

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    1. t June 17, 2026 at 10:10 am

       Can you imagine the effort required to selectively release files so that only the current US administration and perhaps a few donors are implicated?

       And what do those in the files have on others?

       What a time to be alive.

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    2. TimH June 17, 2026 at 10:32 am

       Once the leverage on a person is made public, the leverage is gone.

       Once the leverage is gone, Bibi is vulnerable to actions by that person.

       Bibi is a lot of things, but not stupid. My vote is in the “idle threat” box.

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       1. motorslug June 17, 2026 at 2:03 pm

          Agreed. Not only does it remove the leverage, it also reveals to the US masses that Epstein indeed was a spy for the izzys. This would further crumble the MAGAt coalition and throw a monkey wrench into the grip of the oligarchy Schumerites over the rank and file dems.

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    3. Dr. John Carpenter June 17, 2026 at 10:33 am

       Please don’t throw me into that briar patch Mr. Bibi!

       But you touch on the rub. If this situation is as all-encompassing as I suspect, how to do you release anything and minimize blowback? It’s going to take out people who support them and it doesn’t make Israel look good at a time when they’re losing public support (if they care.)

       Plus, once you’ve played this card, it’s played. Maybe they could figure “it’s now or never”, at least with regard to Trump.

       Wild times, regardless.

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       1. ambrit June 17, 2026 at 6:24 pm

          If you are part of a Messianic cult, either Christian or Jewish, what comes after is not important. “The End Times” are exactly that, the End. Full stop.
          Bibi may also be well into rage fueled policy now. He is facing both prison and cancer. What does he have to lose?

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          1. MH June 18, 2026 at 4:04 am

             Bibi wouldn’t release the kompromat for strategic reasons but out of spite, “I’m screwed and now you are too”.

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13. JMH June 17, 2026 at 9:26 am

    In re: Merchants of Doubt. CO2 levels began to rise with the onset of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was fueled by the growing use of fossil fuels, coal petroleum, natural gas, in one form or another. The arc of CO2 levels in the atmosphere as recorded atop Mauna Loa has risen steadily since recording began in 1962, If I recall correctly. The effect of increased levels of CO2 has been noted and models projecting the effects of this increase have proven generally accurate, if quite consistently, too conservative. I conclude that the fossil fuel industry and all its customers have caused most of the increase in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere and the climatological effects evident to all but the willfully blind. To me the question is not legal responsibility but what do you propose to do about it starting now as the combination of denial of reality and unwillingness to change as iota is not going to end well. Need “not going to end well” be spelled out?

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14. pjay June 17, 2026 at 9:30 am

    – ‘Europe wants to force Ukrainian refugees to return home to fight’ – The Mercenary Diplomat

    This makes perfect sense. How can we fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian” if there are fighting-age Ukrainian men hiding out in Europe? Come on guys, get back in there and get to it!

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    1. Polar Socialist June 17, 2026 at 3:47 pm

       Well, the news from the Eastern Front are implying that the defense of Lyman and Konstantinovka are collapsing faster than Russian economy or Putin’s health and popularity. That’s the outer defense of the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk sprawl, a.k.a. the Festung Donbass.

       If Russians take those two cities by the end of the year, they pretty much have what they are asking to start the peace negotiations and we really can’t have that, now can we?

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15. JMH June 17, 2026 at 9:31 am

    “The risk here is that the current administration (and their defenders) confuse the reduction of the bilateral deficit (with China) with real progress”. They must be confusing their spread sheets with the material world.How droll.

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16. pjay June 17, 2026 at 9:40 am

    – ‘G7 promises to support Ukraine and sanction Russia in joint declaration’ – Politico

    Granted that “joint declarations” like this mean very little. But it is noteworthy that Trump apparently went along with this without so much as a whimper. It almost sounds like Trump has capitulated to the Atlanticist faction of the Blob as well. Perhaps all that “deal-making” energy has been dissipated in trying to spin the Iran debacle.

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    1. The Rev Kev June 17, 2026 at 9:50 am

       The G7 used to be considered the “country club” of nations because of their strong economies. These days? You look at the membership – Canada, Italy, France, Germany, the US, United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union – and realize that none of them are crash hot at the moment. So what is a G7 declaration worth these days?

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       1. flora June 17, 2026 at 1:34 pm

          The West’s great economic minds – Mises, Friedman, Hayak and followers – sent their countries’ manufacturing base away to cheap-labor countries in order to get temporarily rich on Wall St. Thank you, neoliberals. Thank you, Chicago School. The market has spoken. / ;)

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17. Socal Rhino June 17, 2026 at 9:59 am

    Thinking of late stage empire and disconnected American self perception I recall a few times this experience has been captured in fiction:

    – The Incident at Owl Creek Bridge, episode of Twilight Zone
    – The Lathe of Heaven, novel by Le Guin
    – Wile E. Coyote of Bugs Bunny cartoon fame, his feet spinning in the air after he ran over a cliff

    That moment before doom is realized, experienced in dilated time.

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    1. Lefty Godot June 17, 2026 at 11:28 am

       Between the idea
       And the reality
       Between the motion
       And the act
       Falls the Shadow

       (T. S. Eliot)

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    2. otherLiam June 17, 2026 at 11:52 am

       – The Incident at Owl Creek Bridge, episode of Twilight Zone

       A late 1800s short story by Ambrose Bierce if anyone cares.

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       1. ambrit June 17, 2026 at 6:29 pm

          Bierce’s “The Devil’s Dictionary” is worthy of anyone’s bookshelf.
          It is one of the finest examples of CI, (Cynical Intelligence,) to be found anywhere.

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18. The Rev Kev June 17, 2026 at 10:18 am

    “Obama gets star-studded performer list for presidential center opening”

    This is going to bug Trump no end. Trump keeps on having digs at Obama, though it has been many years since Obama has been at the forefront of the political scene, but Trump won’t let it go. Check out this from a post of his from two days ago-

    https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116743815454221461

    No doubt Trump will do something on that opening date to put some shade on those Chicago celebrations. Spite and envy are a bad combination.

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    1. antidlc June 17, 2026 at 10:37 am

       “No doubt Trump will do something on that opening date to put some shade on those Chicago celebrations.”

       Didn’t Trump say he would release the Iran deal details on Friday?

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       1. ChrisFromGA June 17, 2026 at 11:27 am

          I was watching a documentary on the band “Earth, Wind, and Fire” on HBO, and it featured clips from President Obama and Michelle talking about the group. They also showed the band playing at the White House at a formal event. The Obamas stated that they wanted the WH to be the people’s house.

          Such a contrast with the despicable spectacle we had the other day on the WH lawn. Classless and tacky. One wrestler managed to insult Michelle Obama, I won’t bother repeating what he said.

          One thing Taco will never have is class. He’s a crass, angry lunatic who would not be allowed in public in polite society.

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          1. wol June 17, 2026 at 1:34 pm

             The Kennedys hosted Pablo Casals.

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          2. motorslug June 17, 2026 at 2:16 pm

             “The Obamas stated that they wanted the WH to be the people’s house.”

             Unfortunately, those people ended up being the likes of Dimon, Blankfein, Lewis, Stumpf, Sullivan and Liddy.

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19. Jeremy Grimm June 17, 2026 at 10:58 am

    RE:”Scarcity and Shock Propagation in a World of Nested Supply Chains”

    I am not sure what to make of Dr Warwick Powell’s notions about what is wrong with economic theory and how to fix it. His blog seemed to be about promoting his book: “Thermoeconomics in a Time of Monsters”. Beyond cataloging the many ways current economic theory falls short of reality I could not get a clear idea of how Powell proposed to repair its failures. The title of Powell’s book using the constructed word ‘thermoeconomics’ leaves a bad taste. Current economic theory became obsessed with joining physics as a ‘Science’. The resulting efforts to replicate the equilibrium theories so successful in 19th century physics lead to the present stifling mathematization of economics and its theoretical constructs as its models deviated ever more from real world economics. The word ‘thermoeconomics’ conjures anticipation of a new and improved physics based economics replicating the concepts of thermodynamics. Perhaps that is a good fit as the basis for new models that better replicate the operations of the real economy. I am skeptical of this based on the ‘success’ of the previous constructs derived from what seems a strange physics envy.

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    1. amfortas June 17, 2026 at 12:59 pm

       same sort of thing i periodically argue with my cousin about: the market is not the world, but merely a proxy for what actually exists.
       the post-physics envy economics we know and love has a real problem with mistaking the stochastic chart for the real world…witness the paper oil vs actual oil thing here lately.
       cousin….and so many others…really seem to believe that money creates supply.
       if someone waves around a dollar, the thing they want will appear forthwith.
       i think what powell is getting at is one of many attempts ive been seeing in coming up with some grand narrative framework that includes the material world.

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    2. flora June 17, 2026 at 1:27 pm

       ‘Thermoeconomics’. Your description makes me think he’s getting at the old carbon footprint, carbon offsets, carbon pricing, energy economics ideas that have been floating out of the wealthiest enclaves for a long, long time.

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    3. bertl June 17, 2026 at 5:11 pm

       Current economic theory is based largely on the extension of Walrasian economics, and the French have always been hot on the idea of scientifiticity, to invent a word, and the model of classical physics as a basis for economic theory has plagued the world for around 150 years.

       One of my teachers, a devout Keynesian, was a stockbroker’s apprentice before the war, and his view of any market economy was, roughly, that the whole carnival ran on need, greed, conspicuous consumption, positions in an individual’s various role sets, impulse, false perception, and human stupidity. He bemoaned the re-emergence of the market theorists brandishing calculus and general equilibrium theory, and made the point repeatedly that unregulated free markets with extensive intellectual property rights lead to an extreme form of market imperfection and the segmented monopolisation of markets in which income and wealth will always flood upwards and never trickle down.

       He didn’t even regard that as a prediction, just a simple fact of tossing away any restraint of unleashing human nature.

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       1. Henry Moon Pie June 17, 2026 at 7:35 pm

          Even Adam Smith needed an “Invisible Hand” to make it all work out. Indeed, turning greed and a lust for power into societal benefit will require something supernatural.

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          1. witters June 18, 2026 at 3:13 am

             Well, remember it is not a causal claim. It is “as if” there was an “invisible hand”. And Smith had rather interesting and deeply naturalistic (because Humean influenced) views on human motivation in his Theory of the Moral Sentiments.

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             1. Yves Smith June 18, 2026 at 4:40 am

                Smith was also an amateur Shakespearean actor. “Invisible hand” is not even remotely a term of approval. It is a conjurer’s trick or in Macbeth, a covert and malign force:

                Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
                Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,
                Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;
                And with thy bloody and invisible hand
                Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
                Which keeps me pale!

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                1. amfortas June 18, 2026 at 5:41 am

                   aye, one of the most astonishing things to leap forth in my amateur study of econ source material—since i was a kid in the 80’s around houston, one heard much talk about this magical invisible hand that would give boons to the worthy. dad’s bidness friends’ pool parties, talk radio, all over.
                   but when i actually read Wealth of Nations, turns out they were all talking about only half of that sentence, and forgetting the rest of the book(let alone his other book).
                   more akin to joel osteen,lol.

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                2. hk June 18, 2026 at 7:01 am

                   Fittingly, uttered as Macbeth is plotting murder–invisible hand killed Banquo, not I!

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       2. hk June 18, 2026 at 6:58 am

          Ken Arrow (remember that he was one of the inventors of the General Equilibrium Theory) used to joke that if the markets worked the way people think of the theory, they’d all have collapsed on day 2 because all trades would have taken place on day 1. He was a smart man, who knew his disciples were taking him too seriously for their own good.

          (I in fact met Arrow during my first grad school stint, but this story I’d heard second or third hand.)

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          1. PlutoniumKun June 18, 2026 at 7:08 am

             From my long ago reading of Kenneth Arrow, he struck me as one of the very few prominent mainstream economists who had a broad and deep understanding of how the world works, and he understood (as did Keynes) that mathematical models only provided a very shallow and often misleading guide to the economy.

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20. AG June 17, 2026 at 12:06 pm

    re: EU/Berlin vs. cash

    BERLINER ZEITUNG

    machine-transl.

    
    Exclusive: Is the end of cash at ticket machines imminent?

    Our editorial team has obtained an internal EU proposal. This could pave the way for public transport companies to implement cashless ticket machines. Critics warn of exclusion.

    by Hakon von Holst
    https://archive.is/sEz73

    Reply ↓
21. flora June 17, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    File under AI:

    9 out of 10 people can no longer distinguish real from AI-generated content

    https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/06/11/ai-scams-deepfakes-survey/

    Think of “Nigerian princes” with AI online at Meta. (Maybe Meta is a Nigerian prince in disguise,) / ;)

    A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
    Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show

    https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/

    This is a reprint of the Malwarebytes special report.

    Reply ↓
    1. flora June 17, 2026 at 12:41 pm

       The first link is the Malwarebytes reprint.

       Reply ↓
    2. motorslug June 17, 2026 at 2:20 pm

       I think removing the FCC Section 203 exemption would fix a majority of that (Meta).

       Reply ↓
22. motorslug June 17, 2026 at 1:25 pm

    re: Lucid Dreamers –
    Reminds me to re-watch Altered States, one of my favorites from the early 80s.

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23. In Cold Chud June 17, 2026 at 2:39 pm

    Re: “Selling one’s soul and saving it”

    [P]erhaps many Europeans don’t actually find what they see in Gaza to be objectionable – certainly don’t think it worth making a fuss about – or even rather approve of it and simply prefer not to say so.

    One thing Chris Hedges has said consistently, that I think he’s right about, is that across-the-board Western elite support for the genocide in Gaza is an assertion of the right to commit mass murder anywhere it becomes necessary, as climate change causes migration, ecological collapse, and resource scarcity to intensify. The brazenness of the act gives it the added “benefit” of normalizing future occurrences for the domestic audience.

    Silence in the face of appalling atrocities is toxic to those who maintain it.

    This was before Gaza, but I recall a very common response to any indefensible act of power, among PMCs: What do you want me to do about it? What would getting upset accomplish? In practice, this meant refusal to condemn, and, ultimately, acceptance of, the thing.

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24. bertl June 17, 2026 at 3:53 pm

    Emulated Silliness: The UK Under-16 Social Media Ban

    I see Starmer is coming down really hard on teen wanking now. Good luck with that one.

    Then we’ve got an unfailing prime minister ordering the Crown’s forces to commit an act of piracy and then prosecute the victim with the threat of ten years in the clink. What a guy!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/16/russian-shadow-tanker-captain-ajay-pant-remanded-into-custody

    God, but he’s a real toughie who’s demonstrated his true merits as the UK’s leader. If only Churchill had that kind of courage and focus, the Second War would have turned out very differently… very differently, indeed.

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25. motorslug June 17, 2026 at 4:26 pm

    More cops trained in Occupied Palestine no doubt….

    https://www.commondreams.org/news/kohen-wiley
    “A 1-year-old child is dead because police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a car in a crowded Walmart parking lot,” said attorney Ben Crump.

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    1. ambrit June 17, 2026 at 6:54 pm

       This happened in the part of Mississippi known as The Delta. The Delta is the area between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers that was and is a major agricultural district. It has been the home of a largely poor black farming population. Brutality emanating from the Organs of State Security against the poor in the region is legendary.
       Before the Second World War, the German Reich, under the National Socialist government sent teams to the American South to study and list the methods used by the State to disenfranchise and oppress the poor and black populations. The results of those studies guided the Reich ministries in their “racial purity” and “Aryanization” programmes.
       It can be argued that the remnants of the European Jewish populations that survived the War and then made their way to the Palestine learned much of their ideology and methodology from their experiences in enduring the “tender ministrations” of the various Reich’s Ministries.
       Thus, it can be argued that this official murder in Mississippi is but the eternal return of the social policies of the American Deep South of a century ago.
       Everything that was old is new again.

       Reply ↓
       1. Henry Moon Pie June 17, 2026 at 7:29 pm

          It was V.O. Key’s thesis, as explained and demonstrated in Southern Politics, that the level of repression varied directly with the percentage black in a county. In counties where black citizens outnumbered white, the levels of white-on-black violence and voter suppression were the highest of all.

          Of course, people have forgotten the history that Key knew. Many people in the Appalachian hills opposed secession and resented having to fight in a planters’ war. Meanwhile, it was the lowlands who feared Nat Turner.

          There have been a lot of changes in the South that Key wrote about, one being that I’d say, as a casual observer, you’ll find more Confederate flag stickers on Up Country pickups than in the Tidewater. John Prine wrote a line I love about his carpenter grandpa:

          …and voted for Eisenhower ’cause Lincoln won the War.

          “Grandpa Was a Carpenter,” John Prine

          I started life as a Democrat, at least in part because my grandparents had a picture of FDR right below Jesus on the living room wall. I think that sort inter-generational political socialization, that long, multi-generational memory, is becoming scarcer. Today people are isolated, tossed about on wave after wave of TMI. True, voting for Eisenhower ’cause Lincoln won the war can slow down needed progress, as it did in the South, but today’s rootless politics are far more dangerous because there is no flywheel, sometimes, no brakes.

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          1. hk June 18, 2026 at 6:50 am

             What I always muse about the South with irony: politically, West Virginia has been the most stereotypically “Southern” state for some time now. Back in the Civil War, WV seceded from the South to rejoin the Union because its populace hated the slaveowning planters.

             Of course, a lot of Confederate flags on them pick’emup trucks are not just in the edgy areas of the South, but in actual North, like the middle part of Pennsylvania…

             The other funny bit is that the South turned Republican to a large degree because of Northerners migrating–this was a point raised by the Black brothers, Earl and Merle (they are poli sci academics–I think they are twins, not just brothers). When I was interviewing Southern politicians back in grad school, you could still see this: a lot of Republicans in statehouses didn’t have crazy accents. Democrats, at least the old ones, did.

             Reply ↓
          2. AG June 18, 2026 at 7:38 am

             Was there any meaningful difference between Eisenhower and would-be-POTUS Stevenson? Or who were the real DEMS then?
             French journalist Francoise Giroud for what I know when visiting USA with her husband Servan-Schreiber they reported from the Ike Campaign with much fanfare and enthusiasm. And she certainly was no centrist or rightwing.
             Possible the Eisenhower image has changed since the actual years? Today he is pretty much above criticism.

             Reply ↓
       2. AG June 18, 2026 at 7:35 am

          Any literature that´d make sense you could suggest?
          The notion since Oct 7th has reached even German reality. But certainly such analogies remain entirely fringe “wisdom”. That is: “From Delta to Lebensraum”

          Reply ↓
26. Ben Panga June 17, 2026 at 6:51 pm

    Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society (Wired via archive)

    The group, called Dialog, is a private, invitation-only organization cofounded in 2006 by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. It convenes US officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Dialog has spent two decades declining to disclose its members…

    …The same data lays out a program of off-the-record sessions, including: “Money (Does?) Buy Happiness,” “Bring Back Nuclear,” “Navigating WWIII,” “Battlefield Technologies,” and “How’s Your Sex Life?” Other talks include “Build-a-Cult,” moderated by the founder of the Christian networking site Pray.com, and “Build-a-Party,” run by a former White House national security official.

    Together, alongside the mundane fare of a typical thought leadership conference, the documents show an extraordinary convergence of power. The registration records list General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe and the head of US European Command, who took the post in July 2025 and is recorded on the leaked list as having attended Dialog gatherings since 2021. The website directory names sitting Trump administration officials, two US senators, six members of the Paypal Mafia, a former Middle East chief of intelligence, and a sitting ambassador to the United States, along with the founders and directors of many of the country’s largest surveillance, data-broker, and advertising-data companies…

    …Those executives appear side by side with senior US officials overseeing their industries. Auren Hoffman, Dialog’s chairman, founded the location-data broker SafeGraph and the identity-resolution firm LiveRamp, two of the most important suppliers in the consumer data economy. He appears in the directory alongside Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, whose department writes the rules on financial data, and Senator Ted Cruz, chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which oversees the Federal Trade Commission and its data-privacy authority.
    Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, whose software runs case management for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and data fusion for the Pentagon and intelligence community, is listed in the same society as Army secretary Dan Driscoll and Representative Jim Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, which oversees agencies Palantir contracts with….

    …What ties the roster together more than any title or office is a shared preoccupation with artificial intelligence, longevity, and the near future. Asked on a sign-up form to predict the future, registrants returned again and again to the same theme: that AI will reorder work, war, education, and belief within a few years. Several foresee mass labor displacement and a swing back toward unions and government programs; others predict an “AI winter,” domestic terrorism targeting data centers, criminal defendants choosing AI lawyers over public defenders, or religious revival provoked by the disruption.
    “Societal degeneration,” predicted one person, “will continue to accelerate.”…

    …The leaked registration list also names senior figures absent from the public directory of 113: Randy Kroszner, a former governor of the Federal Reserve who now serves on the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee; Hallie Hoffman, a former general counsel and acting chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League; Peter Goettler, the president of the Cato Institute; Ryan Stowers, the executive director of the Charles Koch Foundation; and Roger Myerson, a Nobel laureate economist at the University of Chicago.
    It also lists a cluster of Google and Google DeepMind executives, among them Tom Lue, who leads global affairs for the company’s frontier AI division, and one working journalist, Souad Mekhennet, a national security correspondent for The Washington Post. (She is listed as running an event called “Ulysses Book Club.”)
    The rest of the membership spans hedge fund and private equity billionaires, current and former foreign officials, network television actors, best-selling authors, and religious leaders….

    Reply ↓
    1. flora June 17, 2026 at 7:38 pm

       Thanks for this info. The conference sounds like a Kool-Aid festival.

       Reply ↓
       1. Ben Panga June 17, 2026 at 8:05 pm

          Jackpot Bilderberg.

          A bunch of billionaires, tech magnates and mil-gov. Planning how to not get eaten by us.

          Reply ↓
          1. Tom Stone June 17, 2026 at 9:47 pm

             Thank You!
             What an interesting group, it’s an updated version of Bohemian Grove.
             Only nastier.
             Although the Grove offers the finest in hookers and wines, the liquor store nearest the event takes in a lot of really good wine on consignment.
             $10K or more for some bottles.
             Oh, well, there’s always outcall and doordash…
             It’s going to be a lively Summer and an interesting next few years.

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       2. AG June 18, 2026 at 7:45 am

          ditto

          Reply ↓
27. AG June 17, 2026 at 7:00 pm

    Carlo Ginzburg died, age 87

    Reply ↓
28. AG June 17, 2026 at 10:29 pm

    re: India history

    Interview:

    In conversation with Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a renowned historian, author and professor at Aligarh Muslim University

    How the Mughal legacy continues to shape South Asia
    https://www.thedailystar.net/slow-reads/focus/news/how-the-mughal-legacy-continues-shape-south-asia-4199491

    Reply ↓
29. Ben Panga June 18, 2026 at 6:25 am

    Ukraine hits Moscow oil refinery in largest attack of war (Telegraph)

    Z: Sees it calming down in the middle east; immediately demands attention with his bullshit.

    Reply ↓