Oldest Wine in the World Is Still Liquid Inside 2,000-Year-Old Roman Funeral Urn ZME Science
Videos showing groups of people entering NYC sewers at night baffle residents and investigators AP
EVs are getting more affordable worldwide — except in the U.S. Rest of World
Climate/Environment
Warming unlocks ancient carbon in Tibetan permafrost, triggering climate tipping point Phys.org
Rising seas could ‘drown’ mangroves and release carbon EurekAlert!
‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival The Guardian
India’s Heatwave Is a Warning for the Future Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Scientists say a record amount of seaweed hit the Caribbean and nearby areas in May AP
Ebola
WHO Investigates Ebola Patient’s Travel Through UAE as Uganda Cases Rise Assahifa
Pandemics
Meet the ‘superdodgers’: The few who never had COVID Boston Globe
China?
Xi closes the door after promising US CEOs to open wider Asia Times
China, EU slam proposed US tariffs, reject forced labour allegations South China Morning Post
Southeast Asia
Washington pays the price for losing Asia’s trust East Asia Forum
Syraqistan
House passes resolution to end Iran War, challenging Trump The Hill
Trump Says Iran Blockade Could Last All Summer Amid Fears of Oil Supply ‘Powder Keg’ Common Dreams
LMAOOO pic.twitter.com/6tHT922FK1
— VolgaLad (@cym27s) June 3, 2026
Confirmed — Donald Trump Believes Iran Has The Bomb Larry Johnson
Israel is building more military posts in Gaza, satellite imagery shows Al Jazeera
Israel and Lebanon agree to implement ceasefire if Hezbollah stops attacks BBC
When Diplomacy Can No Longer Restrain War Savage Minds
’When you’re shooting in a more moderate manner’: Trump gives a new definition of Iran ceasefire First Post
***
NEW: Buried within the Senate Intelligence Authorization Act is a provision to increase intelligence sharing with Israel and impede the president’s ability to reduce cooperation in the future. pic.twitter.com/ET2ZWnfJWP
— Daniel Boguslaw (@DRBoguslaw) June 3, 2026
‼️BREAKING: Prime Minister Netanyahu to U.S. Member of Congress: Thank you for endorsing “MY PLAN” for US defense cooperation… pic.twitter.com/Y6eWszniTy
— A New Policy (@anewpolicyorg) June 3, 2026
European Disunion
Chinese firms that help Russia are next for EU sanctions Politico
Germany loses vote for UN Security Council seat DW
Freedom of speech ends with “Lügenfritz”. NachDenkSeiten (machine translation)
Poland formally requests new permanent US military base Notes from Poland
The Western take-over of Hungary Thomas Fazi
The Slovenian Government Gets the Last Laugh–Or Does it? Lily Lynch
New Not-So-Cold War
US House advances Ukraine aid bill, setting up final vote Kyiv Independent
Germany, France, UK Sketch Plan to Engage Putin in Ukraine Talks Bloomberg
This is consistent with Zelensky’s recent statement where he also mentioned the E3 format which sidelines the EU.
One simple reason why E3 is a non-starter is Britain, which combines extreme hostility towards Moscow with the absence of any serious leverage against it, apart… https://t.co/BFatF7x72U
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) June 3, 2026
RBK reports that Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina has disappeared from the speaker list for this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Two sources close to the regulator confirmed she will not attend.
Nabiullina had initially been scheduled to speak… pic.twitter.com/y8F6GIXPaz
— Brian McDonald (@BrianMcDonaldIE) June 3, 2026
Imperial Collapse Watch
South of the Border
Denial is Not a River in Egypt, or in Venezuela Black Agenda Report
Trump 2.0
Senate GOP drops $1 billion for White House ballroom from budget package The Hill
Oz addresses questions about Trump’s frequent visits to doctor: It’s ‘a routine, regular exam’ The Hill
Mullin Says DHS Would Obey Courts If They Were Not “Politicized” Truthout
Trump Strips Job Protections for Nearly 8,000 Federal Policy Staff TeleSur
Democrats Suck
Democrats Opposed to Tlaib’s Resolution to Stop U.S. Joining War on Lebanon Truthout
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Exclusive-Meta scales back plan for internal mouse-tracking tech, citing staff concerns Reuters. “Scales back”=They get 30-minute breaks from surveillance.
Governments escalate the global war on online anonymity WSWS
you used to be able to rent a hotel room under a fake name now i need an app to do my damn laundry
— arne ness (@arne__ness) May 29, 2026
Groves of Academe
My Students Can’t Read The Chronicle of Higher Education
AI
OpenAI and Anthropic Sign Letter to Prevent AI-Developed Biological Weapons Wired
AI Dark Output: The Visible Cost of Invisible Output SemiAnalysis
Data Center Developers Want to Build Their Own Power Plants. How Many Actually Will? Distilled
Sam Altman Eyes Bernie Sanders as His Pope Gizmodo
Amazon’s AI-Generated Animated Series Canceled After Relentless Derision Futurism
National Abortion Hotline workers fight against implementing AI Prism
Cory Doctorow: Hell is other people – so billionaires are using AI to replace them The Nerve
Economy
Hormuz disruption: 50% oil price increase can add $20 billion to import bills of vulnerable economies Down to Earth
Immigration
Immigration Ban and the US Health Care Workforce JAMA Network
Agriculture
How flesh-eating screwworms in cattle could raise US beef prices Reuters. Confirmed in a Texas calve yesterday.
Biggest diesel shock since 2022 deals blow to U.S. farmers Bloomberg
Farm Bankruptcies Hit Six-Year High Morning Ag Clips
Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor 404 Media
Class Warfare
‘Happiness is not just about GDP’: ambitious plan or utopia? The Guardian
Congressman Jeff Van Drew on Delaney Hall, where detainees are paid $1/day or less for their work and are on hunger strike: “This is better treatment than people generally receive… the conditions are better than 90% of the world lives in, and probably half of America.” pic.twitter.com/zAIwWgJVrP
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) June 3, 2026
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Sam Altman Eyes Bernie Sanders as His Pope”
Of course he would. When Bernie came up with the idea of the US government taking a 50% stake in AI corporations – along with all those debts – Altman figured that he had identified his patsy. He may want Bernie because he figures the guy has ‘moral authority’ but that boat sailed the second time Bernie bailed on his supporters and told them to support the Democrats like his good friend Joe Biden. Are young people enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders anymore? Those that did are older and wiser now.
Bernie Sanders is the biggest fraud in USA politics and the problem is he started a global franchising, we get copy cats everywhere now. He can’t even say genocide when talking about his adored Israel. No surprise he is ready to rescue all those zionist techno fascists.
It seems to me he is fully compromised, they have stuff on him and his. I remember something about his wife being dropped after he played nice and endorsed Biden.
Whatever your independent feelings about Sanders — being betrayed certainly stings worse that being lied to — the award for the biggest fraud in US politics must surely go to Donald Trump, followed by several other presidents, with Sanders somewhere lower in the ranks, by the objective measure of the volume of the gap between promises and delivery.
Sanders didn’t promise as much as his fan base projected onto him.
It’s worth reiterating this if for no other reason than as a corrective to the terrible habit among well-meaning people, to drag other decent folk (with questionable politics) far down and under, while simultaneously commending absolute assholes for being honest assholes.
I think thats the wrong way to see Sanders. He is the product of the smoke filled room also being full of morons who couldn’t see how malleable Sanders has turned out to be and made a crony decision and screwed themselves. I and many like me are no longer democrats. To the biggest fraud award, it’s a crowded field…
How many politicians can you name that are not the product of smoke filled rooms. Not only is that game rigged it is now and is setup to become much more of a fixed game as the main stream becomes state function. Going forward stridency will not work. In politics one has to get in bed with people they don’t like and don’t agree with because it requires a critical mass to move the needle.
I said the smoke filled room picked the wrong person, but the smoke fille room is not democracy, the smoke filled room is peopled with those “get in bed with people they don’t like and don’t agree with because it requires a critical mass to move the needle.” which is how we got two republican parties who both agree completely about the worst things, this is not debatable. Gaza, Ukraine, globalism, digital authoritarianism and so on…
In a democracy, hopefully we will be able to get back there sometime if we were ever there, people get what they want, in the smoke filled mafia dens capital gets what it wants. Call me strident if you want, I am 100% done with the lesser of two evils bs…which one is less evil? Trump is just gauche and embarrassing. Who was kamala telling to shut up when she said “I’m Speaking during brat summer?
Not different but for their choice of cosmetics.
I don’t have to play in a fixed game.
The dems have to earn votes. I do not owe them one bleeping thing, and I’m particularly strident on this point.
Bernie Sanders is a very effective pol. He has gotten more bills passed than any other legislator in the history of Congress. And he does what he can to keep the system chugging along— both times the Democratic establishment screwed him out of the nomination, he still supported their candidates because he knew that a third-party race would certanly have handed the Oval Office to a Republican. He is not going to let Altman co-opt him.
You’d think that boat had sailed but just watch how many comments will pop up defending him here. Some just want to believe, I guess.
Once a person is elected they’re pretty much trapped, part of a system fueled by endemic corruption. Sanders likely knew he was but tried anyway. He enjoyed the ride, and so did lots of others, up to a point.
Quixotic
Nothing much to argue with in the article.
Should be first order of business for the board of peace.
Its members’ implacable reluctance to put their hand in their pocket (save to scratch their nuts) might well be an obstacle.
Democrats Oppose Tlaib’s Resolution Because They Adore War.
Viva Rashida Tlaib!
This is likely to be the geostrategic thinking of the Dems:
“Historic opportunity” for the keyboard generalissimi and generalissime who run the Democratic Party. You know, the same group demonstrating with Belazel Smotrich in NYC just days ago (with a reported cameo by Ben Gvir). In short, authoritarians.
So who cannot be trusted? At this point, I would rather trust the Lebanese government than a bunch of corrupt-to-the-bone conformists who don’t know geography or history.
Sheesh.
PS: These are the same geniuses who thought that the Russian Federation would fall apart if they just killed off enough Ukrainians, with Zelenskyy only to happy to oblige. And they were all hoping for a war with Iran — although they didn’t want a Trump victory in Iran, which they thought would be inevitable. They wanted Hillary Clinton to go in and “obliterate” Iran (her words) to show her Brass Balls and that liberals can assassinate people, too.
“ I would rather trust the Lebanese government …”
———————————————————————————–
Hmmm….Isn’t the Lebanese government lock step in line with Israel/U.S. on this “historic opportunity”?
Germany loses UN Security Council Vote.
The bad news for Merz and the other panic-stricken Nordics: “Germany was in competition with Austria and Portugal for two seats in the “Western Europe” and Others” group. Both Austria and Portugal won those seats as they had received more votes than Germany. Portugal received 134 votes, whereas Austria had received 131. Germany, meanwhile, had garnered 104 votes.”
Of course, Portugal won. And this brings up some interesting speculation about the North/South and Germanic/Latin split in Europe, which is still one of the great cultural divisions, even within Germany, where the old “Roman” Germany differs from Prussian/Protestant Germany east of the Elbe. Several commenters mentioned internal divisions within Europe that color relationships.
Of course, I am a resident of one of the PIIGS. But I will also point out that any country that contributed fado to the world is going to win out over Wagner any day.
PS: Portuguese! I’m sure Ursula von der Leyen is coming up with some creative punishment. Keep an eye on the bacalhau.
Turns out that total German support for the Israeli genocide and supplying the Israelis with a ton of weaponry the past two years did not go down well with most of those voting nations. Who knew?
As some have said, germany is always on the wrong side when it comes to genocide.
If that’s the case, then I’ll just wait for similar objections to be voiced regarding the USA and UK, speaking as a resident of the former and ergo having no right to pontificate on how other countries should act or behave.
I think bacalhau is safe, the Portuguese government is fully under the boot of VdL, NATO, Trump, etc. We have been, according to Rubio, ‘model alies’ in the illegal war on Iran. There is nothing we won’t do for our lords.
Rui is correct, if anything Portugal has been turning zionist. There is a lot of israeli money flowing to the country and plenty of politicians and media talking heads willing to sell out and clamp down on opposition to the genocide if the price is right. The level of discourse on TV is just abysmal, with complete morons advocating genocide (for example, that killing kids is justifiable as part of the greater struggle against terrorism) or nuking “two or three” iranian cities to “bring them to their senses”. One step removed from israeli TV (which isn’t surprising, as they are probably writing the script).
Just YESTERDAY the “Israel Allies Foundation” was welcomed by the National Assembly (parliament) for talks as part of the 4th European Policy Summit.
Don’t take any clues about the Portuguese stance from its geographical proximity to Spain.
Being Zionist is quite a thing of conservatives all around Europe. The difference between Portugal and Spain can be named as differences between Luís Montenegro (conservative) and Pedro Sánchez (Socialist). There are now massive strikes in Portugal against the Trabalho XXI law which allows for 50hrs/week contracts.
Dark times we live in. In Italy, (Calabria) 4 migrant workers (strawberry picking) were burned in a car for protesting too much. They are being paid little and were told to pay 5€ to commute them to the strawberry fields and started protesting, then burned inside the car. This kind of news go largely unreported.
I would say the difference is greater than just what party is in power in each country, though I wouldn’t disagree with you on conservatives loving the entity. There is no comparison between the level of militancy and organization of the Left (broadly speaking, not just the parties) in Spain and in Portugal, it’s almost comical. Sanchez has to play nice with them since he is leading a coalition, just like the Portuguese Socialists had to during the first Costa government. The Left in Spain hates the entity, so Sanchez plays the part, but following the Socialist parties’ traditions, he usually talks big and then scams his way out of the follow through. For example, the much talked about arms embargo is full of holes and exceptions, and business continues as usual, or is even growing. A recent report on the matter:
https://centredelas.org/publicacions/benefici-collateral/?lang=en
Terrible story on the migrants. The West is being reshaped in the entity’s image.
Why not dissolve the European Union, get rid of the grifters in the EU parliament, the super grifters on the European Commission, but first send VdL into retirement. What has been the Union’s gift to Europe since 2022? Soaring prices for oil and gas, de-industrialization, ever tightening strictures on human rights and civil rights, an authoritarian tilt that says “you will do it our way and you will like it or we will make you an unperson.” That last is straight out of Orwell. And so on and so forth. While none of this meets the clinical definitions of insanity, it is nonetheless insane.
That saddens me no end, Portugal WAS one of my top 5 emigration destinations.
“Confirmed — Donald Trump Believes Iran Has The Bomb”
This strikes me more as a game of strategic ambiguity that the Iranians are playing. Maybe that is why Trump came out and said that Iran agreed to not build or even buy a nuke. Trump wouldn’t be staging all those attacks if he thought that Iran had nukes. In any case, one nuke would do Iran no good as they would need several and the missiles adapted to deliver any nukes. Look how the US bluffed Japan back in ’45. The US developed three nukes in total. One was tested in New Mexico, one dropped on Hiroshima and the third on Nagasaki. After that the US had zip for the next year or two – but the Japanese did not know that. So Iran would need several nukes for it to be an effective deterrent.
Not true. There was at least one plutonium core ready to go at the time of the Japanese surrender: the so-called “Demon Core” which would claim a few lives without ever being detonated. Another wouldn’t be ready until September. After that, the production of the Nagasaki-style bombs would have slowed considerably without a major increase in plutonium production. A few Hiroshima-style bombs could have been made relatively quickly before the lack of uranium would stop production in its tracks.
I was reading a long time ago that the US would not have enough material for another nuke until 1947 but perhaps they were mistaken.
Not exactly true. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the first female nuclear engineers out of Princeton. She’s listed as part of the design team who worked on the USS Nautilus. At the time she was a contractor working on refueling details for a nuclear reactor. A very brilliant woman and quite short. She told me how she met Einstein and other pioneers responsible for nuclear energy. This was before the internet was even a thing. She told me tongue in cheek that the US had dropped an additional nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, since the first one dropped wasn’t as impactful as Hiroshima. The reason she cited for the reduced impact was Nagasaki was located in a mountainous area. She told other little secret tidbits but I’d rather not share them here. For the time she had a rather kick ass computer for an individual.
But didn’t Donnie say that Iran must never have the Bomb? Of course he did, but he says lots of things that are even more nonsensical. I wish no one had the Bomb, but we are stuck with it and the mad notion that there could be a nice safe limited small nuclear exchange, war, tit for tat, call it what you will, is a form of Russian roulette I am not willing to indulge. I am sure there are those who say why not try it and see what happens, but the world has never suffered from a shortage of fools and madmen. Let’s say Iran has developed or bought or rented or been given or been loaned a Bomb or two or three or four. Well Bibi and Donnie would attack Iran wouldn’t they. Thanks for that Donnie. Thanks for that Bibi. Attack Iran to keep it from getting the Bomb. Attack Iran to make the region safe for Israeli aggression, safe for Israeli regional hegemony, and if we are to believe Pollard and Bennett, safe for Israel to go after Turkey and Egypt, all this to take place with the financial and etc. backing of the US. because we all know that on its own Israel could not do what it is doing. With all that in mind I hope Iran has a Bomb or to or three or four. The prospect of obliteration might bring second thoughts to all but those who would rather see the world and the human race destroyed than they not get everything that they want.
I think believing this story on its face would be lacking in appropriate skepticism. It strikes me more as a planted story designed to provoke a response from folks like Larry, to field test those in the various chains of information dispersal to find out who are being sources for people like Larry, to gauge both military and diplomatic reactions, etc. In other words it is an intelligence operation and not actually a fact on either end. The Iranians are very unlikely to have a weapon and Trump (plus advisors and Israel) do not actually believe this story. Note in Larry’s piece he states that following the talk between the Pakistani PM and the Iranian Pres ONLY one hour later the Pakistani Foreign Minister told this story to Rubio, and thus, the White House knew the information was legitimate. Umm nope. I lived in the world he is describing and the idea of going from an NSA intercept, to making a report, sending it up the management chain to the Dir NSA (which would be required for such sensitive/critical info), forwarding the info to the White House and getting it in Trump and Rubio’s hands, all done within 1 hour is the most highly unlikely part of this entire story. Plus his confirmation from the former Trump lawyer that the story exists does not in any way mean the story is actually true. It can only confirm the story, which may just be a story as described above.
I’ll believe that Iran has a nuclear weapon when Iranian leadership announces it has one in its possession.
I recall prof Marandi saying that the the Iranian presidency is not like the US presidency.
The Japanese did not surrender because of the use of Nuclear weapons. They surrendered because the Russians had finished off the Nazi’s and were now coming for them. The Japanese were relatively nonplussed about the bomb, seeing as how the Americans had already leveled multiple cities with mass bombings and the Japanese had no air defense left. As far as the Japanese were concerned it didn’t really matter if you blew their cities into dust with one bomb or 10000 they couldn’t stop either and the result was the same.
Potential sign of a market top approaching:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4911839-the-pattern-day-trading-rule-is-dead
FINRA got rid of the pattern day trading rule. Unrestricted day trading – what could possibly go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?
****
In other news; maybe it’s just me, but the site is loading very slow. This is the only site I’m having this issue. Using Firefox.
Same here. Also using Firefox and the pages re-load slowly.
I was experiencing the same issue, but it seems to have gotten better now.
Not only is the site loading slowly for me, it’s doing something strange. When I click on an article I want to read the site sends me to one of Lambert’s Water Coolers from June 22, 2018. If I spend a few minutes fiddling around with it I can usually reach the story I want. It doesn’t act like this all the time but at least half time. I’m using Chrome.
“Market top” is another term for “your ponzi scheme is showing”.
Speaking of which: file under; “Tell me capitalism is a ponzi scheme without telling me capitalism is a ponzi scheme…”
Blackstone restricts flagship fund withdrawals as private asset fears reemerge
I’m looking at this 1.5% pop in the market so I go to the headlines because some news must be driving this and theres no news.
Mr. Market seems to have gone full Sybil, with multiple personalities.
Nasdaq/Tech Wreck 2.0 DOWN
Dow UP
Crude is also down, at least in the paper futures markets. Still reacting to Taco’s latest prevarications and ignoring physical drawdowns and shortages. Dear leader blathered something this morning about not ending the ceasefire unless there were US soldiers killed. Compulsive liar, to the rescue!
What gets me is that the best news for the markets regarding Iran/SoH is the return to the status quo. What was the market doing prior to US/Is’s invasion? Really just trending sideways and getting ready to go into its traditional Solstice funk. So why is the market behaving as if it is expecting a massive injection of money into its pet industries? Probably because it knows that it is going to get that massive injection of funds into Ai and defense, and intelligence, and surveillance, and… list goes on.
Oilfield services and defense are happier than pigs in a trough right now. Merging the USrael military matrix is likely making for some giddy projections. All to be managed from an extra governmental paradise on a freedom colony beach in Gaza. The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades.
“Xi closes door after promising US CEO’s to open wider”
Funny that, when your fearless leader is a lying liar who lies, lies, lies ™, you act all surprised when China’s leader reciprocates. Why would Xi Jinpeng allow Western companies to loot and pillage in the way they have their own countries? How dare a nation act in its own interests, only USrael is allowed to do that!
Besides that wee little issue, the article seems to have bought into the false premise that China is seeking to make the Yuan a reserve currency, ignoring the fact that is impossible when running huge trade surpluses:
What statements on the record do they cite as Xi making such a promise?
“How flesh-eating screwworms in cattle could raise US beef prices”
This is also bad news for Oz. Our government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to buy US beef – even though it would also include Mexican and Canadian beef since it was being shipped to the US first. This was over the worry about mad-cow disease but now our customs will have to look out for New World screwworm. The crazy thing is that the US beef herd is getting smaller but instead of buying beef from countries like Oz to make meat cheaper in the US, Trump put a tariff on beef export. I guess that the cattle growers association kicked in some money to Trump’s causes.
the woman who ran for sec. of agriculture of north carolina a while back has a youtube channel called “farm to Taber”…. her name is Taber…
Had a good 10 min. video on aug 28, 2025 called “screwworm update, first american case”
where she described the north american relationship to screwworms and the control measures.
This is a case where we found decades ago that it was cheaper and most efficient to stop the screwworms in the geographically narrow isthmus of panama. We /they had a production facility that produced sterile males to keep the poulation down before the vast american border with mexico… But Now those people not wanting to “give money to foreigners”…trump et al.1st term; have the idiocy of their actions coming home to roost…. yet again.
Will they be able to repeat the success of previous iteration using Sterile Insect Technique?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterile_insect_technique#Emergency_applications
Seeing as how trump has gutted most USG programs and science seems to frighten them so much, maybe this will create millions of vegetarians.
Re: My Students Can’t Read
At featured in a NC link a few days ago, Freddie DeDoer recently wrote that USA K-12 students, on average, are doing just fine relative to international students.
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/one-more-time-the-average-american
While the two op-eds offer apparently contradictory opinions, perhaps both the “can’t read” and DeBoer “students are doing fine” are both valid because DeBoer uses a relative, to a possibly declining, international standard.
DeBoer has that US students’ K-12 reading is “among the very best in the developed world”.
I can’t argue with what the professor is seeing in his own classes, but I wouldn’t put much trust in the neuroscience studies he quotes. There is a lot of dodgy neuroscience that looks at patterns of brain electrical activity and metabolism in very small samples of humans and is prone to overgeneralization. In fact, all sciences relating to human health seem to be plagued with articles generalizing based on too little hard data and too much hitting a trendy field of study for publication. The Common Core part of his argument sounds more probable as a contributor (educational “innovations” and “reforms” often are poorly thought out and causes of generational learning deficits), with COVID as a major complicating factor. But, realistically, literacy has been going downhill in the US ever since television became a mass market phenomenon, back around 1948. It’s just that the initially gradual effect has been accelerating more noticeably in this century.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the part of the 2022 PISA test results about sampling (“How were students chosen?”) shows that the United States had the lowest school participation rate, even after replacement schools were solicited to make up for non-respondents–only 63%. That raises some questions about potential selection bias.
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2022-results-volume-i_53f23881-en/full-report/the-pisa-target-population-the-pisa-samples-and-the-definition-of-schools_35666ed9.html
Taibbi’s latest. Public Excerpt.
America Needs a Boring and Sane Party
It’s not the fault of voters that they’re surrounded by crazy
https://www.racket.news/p/america-needs-a-boring-and-sane-party
From Taibbi’s article:
Take, for instance, the above Times-style propaganda about how no one yet has solved the riddle of Trump, as if his appeal were a confounding Scooby-Doo mystery. Vox a few weeks ago ran a similar piece bylined from Toronto called “Are far-right politics just the new normal?” that pretended to total ignorance about Trump’s staying power, saying the longstanding belief that he was just a “blip to be outlasted” or (as Pete Buttigieg put it) “some random anomaly” now must be set aside, so progressives can search for more serious diagnoses. Vox and some of its interview subjects speculated that perhaps trying something like governing better would work – in perfect deadpan they called this “deliverism,” i.e. the idea that the “far-right trend” could be blunted by “delivering” economic success.
SMH, FFS…
It’s almost like the top 10% of elite dems are the ones dunning kruger identifies as confident idiots.
Many ‘lefty’ writers have dispelled the myth trump is an anomaly and have in fact pointed out he is the epitome or apex of the US design, at least going back to 1973.
The fact that it’s no longer hidden is what irks both parties and the Epstein class. It doesn’t help either that tech bros have managed to ‘screwworm’ their way inside the system, pissing off the old guard gilded class.
There’s a book “Political Ponerology” (ponerology is the study of evil) written (originally in Polish) in 1998, that’s pretty easy to find online. I haven’t read it but it looks interesting. Article about the book:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Essay:Political_Ponerology
‘screwworm their way inside the system.’
ya think? / ;)
From Breaking Points.
Larry Ellison, AIPAC JAMMING Data Center LOBBYIST Into Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgOA_Aj7zAY
“Chinese firms that help Russia are next for EU sanctions”
You can only shake your head at this story. The EU spent years even before the war burning down all the bridges between them and the Russian Federation. And now they seem intent on doing the same to the Chinese who are potentially their biggest customer and who could throw their economy a lifeline. They are now thinking of sanctioning four Chinese companies whom they accuse of supporting the Russians in their war. You could just as well have the Chinese sanction EU companies who are feeding the Ukrainian war machine. It cuts both ways. The EU are already in for some hard economic times but it would help if their leaders stopped trying to make things that much worse.
When you have no answer apply sanctions. They rarely work as advertised by what the heck, you did something. Pats and the back and drinks all around/
I use a VPN so the archived links rarely work for me ( they seem to be blocking anonymous access more and more) and couldn’t access the Boston Globe “super dodgers” link, but successfully avoided COVID for 6+ years until a trip to the Texas Ohio State football game last year. My friend in Columbus with whom I stayed had it the week prior. My parents have still never caught it. Wish I could read the article.
The main point for me was even if you think you never had it (I do), if you ever got a vaccine (J&J for me) there’s no way to prove it because of the antibodies from the vax.
Not one mention of the word ‘Israel” in O’Hehir’s Salon article about why the world hates America now.
Semianalysis: so “dark output” is the new “bezzle”?
I’ll see the IP valuation growth that manifest after the dot.bust, but raise with that value growth is an artifact of the technologists running off with “our democracy”, and then call when THE BEST PRESIDENT EVER destroys the Western IP regime along with the rest of the brand and all that “value” goes poof.
“China, EU slam proposed US tariffs, reject forced labour allegations”
Trump really does want his sanctions and is determined to bring them in one way or another. Of course it makes things more expensive for Americans to buy imports and alienates a third of the countries in the world but so it goes. It does not matter if you are a rival, a loyal ally or even a vassal, you can be hit up with the harsher tariff rates of 12.5% which includes countries like India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, most of the northern part of South America, most of the Middle east – except Israel – Turkei and a bunch of other countries. I suspect that the turnout for the FIFA World Cup in six days will show Trump what the world thinks of him.
Glenn Diesen and Martin Armstrong. utube.
Martin Armstrong: How Europe Destroyed Itself & What Comes Next
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB3YL6cyjqE
The pump for the big AI IPOs is in full swing at NY Times Mag, apparently. It lionizes the magic of using OpenClaw, but only briefly after dozens of paragraphs of hagiography, does it mention the costs. And we’re not even done rescinding the subsidies yet. At the true cost of compute, few people could even afford to run OpenClaw.
The Small-Business Owners Managing Whole Armies of A.I. Employees (NY Times Mag)
This is basically a yes, AI really can come for your jobs, in depth “story”. Perhaps a response to the recent panic as huge tech companies are pulling back on their LLM spend after blowing out their budgets in weeks or a month. I don’t think the lawyer in the story is replacing his secretary really unless he’s paying her multiple 100Ks a year.
>Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor
Although this article makes it sound like John Deere was the only option for Americans until now, I would like to point out that Chinese-made tractors have always been the cheapest option for those willing to do their own repairs, even when tariffs are taken into account.
re: France under Macron
JACOBIN
Emmanuel Macron Has Boosted France’s Corporate Welfare State
By Benjamin Bürbaumer
French capitalism has been underperforming for decades, but its companies still expect to receive generous state support without giving much in return. Emmanuel Macron has carried this policy of corporate welfare to new heights.
https://jacobin.com/2026/06/macron-france-corporate-welfare-state
Re: Superdodgers.
I may be a superdodger. I have never tested positive for covid, despite a few first for me week long illnesses in the last few years. Previously I would never be sick for more than two days. Maybe I am just getting old.
I wear an n95 mask when on public transportation, planes and crowded shops, but otherwise i do not. I have had most of the immunizations and vaccinations, but not all of them.
I always chalked up my notion of being covid free to crap free home tests. Anyone else in NC land covid free?
I’ve never had it, but I mask universally and rarely go anywhere. My dad masked everywhere until that one time. Got COVID and died four months later. You never know.
Unvaxed, unboosted, unmasked, uninfected. Or if I’ve been infected I couldn’t distinguish the effect from common cold. But I do have a supply of ivermectin that I take when experiencing cold symptoms so maybe I’ve had it and didn’t know. I also haven’t had a flu vaccine for many years and I think the last time I had flu was the winter before Covid.
I’ve never had it that I know of, but many infections have no symptoms so it’s possible. I am pretty good about masking and avoiding crowds.
Gas prices here down 0.50 now. Gonna be so lit when we hit tank bottom. No rationing at all.
Israeli citizens wonder why the state won’t return October 7 footage it confiscated from them. The mother of an Israeli victim says authorities deleted video of her son’s death. Others complain “someone is hiding” the videos.
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/05/31/israeli-trove-oct-7-video-kibbutz/
Forgive me but on first skim of this title, I read “sketch” in the sense of Monty Python sketch.
I just wanted to share this Facebook post I made about my grandpa with y’all. I know you guys appreciate the classics and my grandpa was as classic as they come. I actually read his article on Senecas Thyestes last night via JSTOR:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935921
Reading this now at 41, I’m like HFS I understand most of this!!!! It’s about taking Senecas “ghoulishness” seriously. Written in 1969. Just as applicable to today’s Epstein Class as the Imperial Roman one.
I was quite the classics prodigy back in the day until I decided I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day translating old books and not knowing AT ALL wtf is going on in TODAYS.
After 20 years of WORKING CLASS IRL, gimme the desk 🤦♂️:
Facebook Family & Friends,
The funeral for the CLASSICAL LEGEND *JOE PARK POE* is taking place at the St Charles Ave Presbyterian Church June 10th, 2026.
It will be live streamed.
It will be incredible.
THE MASSES ARE CLAMORING FOR IT.
Ladies & Gentleman, this may be the funeral to end all funerals.
This may be the single greatest event of all time.
A GREAT LEGEND of the CLASSICAL ARTS has left our earthly domain and gone down into the underworld…
And he will be watching 👀
And LO, his tales are already reaching the 4 corners of the internet!
https://obituaries.nola.com/obituary/joe-poe-1093820502
Come gather over at the Nola .com’s Obituaries website to witness his great tales.
The Great Tales of Poe.
Do please sign the guestbook. i would greatly appreciate that.*
And without further ado, the beginning of the obituary written by my grandmother for my grandfather.
Please go to the website to read the whole thing:
New Orleans, Louisiana – Joe Park Poe, Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies at Tulane University, died on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at the age of 89. He was born on July 15, 1936, in Forrest City, Arkansas, and spent most of his childhood in Little Rock. Predeceased by his parents, Samuel E. Poe and Eloise Thomas Poe, as well as by his daughter Martha Elizabeth Betsy Poe Elmes (Betsy), Joe is survived by his sister Beth Poe Kissling, his daughter Amy E. Poe, Betsy’s five children, the oldest of whom, Jonathan Becnel, lives in New Orleans, and his wife of 45 years, Elizabeth Wilson Poe (Beth).
After earning his A.B. from Columbia College, his A.M. from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University, Joe taught for two years at UT Austin and for one at UC Berkeley. In early September 1965, he arrived in New Orleans “with Hurricane Betsy” (as he put it) to begin what proved to be a distinguished 47-year career as a faculty member in the Classics Department at Tulane. He retired in 2012.
As a scholar, Joe was recognized internationally among Classicists for the breadth and originality of his work. He published important monographs and articles on Greek drama, Latin elegiac poetry, the Aeneid, Senecan tragedy, and Roman topography.
Joe’s teaching style was exemplary of the “old school.” He always wore a coat and tie when he taught and never called a student by their first name. He painstakingly explained ablative absolutes, gerunds and gerundives, passive periphrastics, and futures less vivid as though such concepts really mattered, and to him they did. He was demanding but compassionate, serious but funny. He cultivated an atmosphere of mutual respect in the classroom, which made his students want to do their best.
⬆️ 👀
Wow.
👏
An obituary not seen since the Emperors of Rome.
And I’ll leave you with this, dear Facebook readers, “Omina Fausta Cano.” It is a line from the Latin Elegaic Poet named Propertius. It means, “I sing of favorable omens.” I wish favorable omens to the common people. That we may finally rid ourselves of these dam meddling ghouls once and for all!
Grandpas Grandson,
Jonathan Holland Becnel
Bucktown
MMXXVI
*of course you don’t need to attend the funeral but I would appreciate it if you signed the guestbook. Show grandpa Joe some love. And before I go – fun little fact for ya – Grandpa had YUGE amounts of information in the footnotes. Like a little back and forth thoughtfully crafted between the margins. I’m 41 and only now can I really understand the major motifs. Especially the death motif. And grandpas descriptions of ghoulishness in the Silver Age. WOW. They don’t make em like you anymore, Grandpa, and I hope your wisdom & insightful commentaries get passed down to the Classicists of the next civilization.
The Times is all in on an exclusive hit piece on Platner.
Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall ‘Unsettling’ Behavior (NY Times)
If you’re not an Establishment approved Democrat candidate, watch out! They cometh for you.
Further proof, as if it’s needed, that #McResistance D’s far prefer Republicans to anyone who might shake up the sweet racket they have going for themselves.
The establishment Dems are trying to make Platner out to be a Nazi. IMO:
If this ends up being true or even close to true, then what difference does it make? Nothing changes- he fits right in with the rest of them.
If it isn’t true, in part or full, and he follows through with even a fraction of his campaign rhetoric, it would make a difference.
re: Israel in Latin America
1986 study is free for download on archive.org
It’s No Secret: Israel’s Military Involvement in Central America
by Milton Jamail; Margo Gutierrez
https://archive.org/details/its-no-secret-israels-military-involvement-in-central-america/page/n2/mode/1up
As you’d expect
How Oklahoma Lets Oil Companies Contaminate Drinking Water (Pro Publica)
I noticed that (according to the BBC) the agreement between Israel and the Lebanese ‘government’ is only enacted after Hezbollah goes into effect only after Hezbollah has entirely left the whole area south of the Litani river but does not stipulate that Israel will retreat to inside it’s borders, only that unspecified “Pilot zones” will be created with US help where the Lebanese army will be the sole occupiers. Israel will not make a “broad” attack on Beirut but I can’t tell if they will just not attack Lebanese Army units and keep after ‘terrorists’ or what would constitute a “broad” attack vs a targeted strike. why everyone in Lebanon from alldoes not vote
In unrelated news, I discovered a way I can bypass paywalls, at least using Firefox’s browser. I often download things and read them later. I discovered (by accident) that if I close an article then use the ‘reopen closed page’ function, the page reopens but without the paywall.