Parsing emerging information on the Israel campaign against Iran, and Iran’s initial response.
Recent Items
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Israel Launches Attacks Against Iran; Iran Begins Retaliation
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Media watch, Middle East, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:30 am | 207 Comments »
Kennedy’s HHS Sent Congress ‘Junk Science’ To Defend Vaccine Changes, Experts Say
More on RFK, Jr. making shit up but attempting to wrap it in the mantle of science.
Topics: Dubious statistics, Guest Post, Health care, Politics, Regulations and regulators, Science and the scientific method
Posted by Yves Smith at 4:00 am | 12 Comments »
Gaza: The Sacrificial Ram on Capital’s New Altar
Gaza and Ukraine symbolize the death of an old ‘nomos’ and the rise of a new one shaped by war, capital, and collapsing ideals
Topics: Coffee Break, Middle East, Russia
Posted by Curro Jimenez at 2:00 pm | 51 Comments »
Climate Adaptation and Inequality: Lessons from Cape Town’s Drought
Cape Town’s drought illustrated that when climate crises become acute, the rich care for themselves irrespective of bigger effects.
Topics: Africa, Doomsday scenarios, Environment, Global warming, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 6 Comments »
Links 6/12/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:45 am | 171 Comments »
Rob Urie: Why Retaliation Rhymes with Negotiation, US – Russia Edition
On not-well-known elements of the US-Ukraine-Russia conflict, the fecklessness of the left, and the abject stupidity of Western leaders
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Dubious statistics, Guest Post, Media watch, Politics, Russia
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:33 am | 76 Comments »
Satyajit Das: A Fist Full of Dollars
Two recent books seem unduly complacent about the status of the dollar as reserve currency.
Topics: China, Currencies, Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Macroeconomic policy
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:00 am | 5 Comments »
“Is All Economic Growth Good?”
It can’t be said too often: what most economists call growth is too often what we here call groaf.
Topics: Credit markets, Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Guest Post, Income disparity, The destruction of the middle class, The dismal science
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:31 am | 8 Comments »
Coffee Break: Trump Deploys National Guard to LA
President Trump deploys National Guard and US Marines to Los Angeles in support of ICE. Gavin Newsom files suit in opposition. Waymos burn.
Topics: Coffee Break, Guest Post
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 48 Comments »
The Projected Death Count from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill
Researchers projects that “big beautiful bill” cuts to public health insurance coverage may lead to upwards of 51,000 deaths a year.
Topics: Guest Post, Health care, Income disparity, Macroeconomic policy, Politics, Regulations and regulators, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 14 Comments »
Links 6/11/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 87 Comments »
How the ICE Raids and Crackdowns on Anti-Genocide Speech Are A Threat to All American Workers
The precarity of the undocumented worker is the future of US labor relations.
Topics: Banana republic, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Legal, Politics, Regulations and regulators, Ridiculously obvious scams, Social policy, Social values, Surveillance state, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:50 am | 32 Comments »
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”: Why Are Young Men Giving Up on Sex?
Many, and perhapse even most, young American men have soured on sex. What could be responsible?
Topics: Social policy, Social values
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:31 am | 164 Comments »
Do AI Models Think?
A new paper confirms early doubts that LLMs could ever meet AI boosters’ claims that they were intelligent.
Topics: Guest Post, Ridiculously obvious scams, Science and the scientific method, Technology and innovation, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:30 am | 47 Comments »
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Implausible Deniability and the Deep State
The Central Intelligence Agency has in many ways achieved the opposite of the purpose for which it was founded. Instead of increasing the security of the U.S., it has weakened it. The CIA is a main element of what is known as the Deep State, a permanent government that operates apart from the democratic machinery […]
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | 38 Comments »