Wednesday, March 12, 2025

BRICS, Boers, and Preparing for Conflict With China in South Africa: Examining the US Pressure Campaign

In addition to Greenland and the Panama Canal, Washington is doubling down on efforts to “dominate” naval theaters in a conflict with China. 

After We Amplified Warnings of Wildly Overvalued Unicorns, They Crash and Burn

“What Is the Mainstream Media Missing About Elon Musk? He Is Instituting Technocracy”

A discussion of the regime that Elon Musk and his tech bros are in the process of implementing.

2:00PM Water Cooler 2/18/2025

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics;

  • Court filing: Who’s in charge at DOGE? If not Musk, who? Ed Zitron: “The Generative AI Con”; The value of note-taking ~
  • Trump’s No-Prisoners Approach to Iran-China Oil Crackdown

    The US plans further sanctions on intermediaries like tankers and broker that facilitate Iran oil sales to China. Will they work?

    Links 2/18/2025

    Just How Far Could the Fallout from Javier Milei’s $LIBRA Coin “Rug Pull” Scandal Reach?

    If Milei is willing to rob not only his own citizens but his own fanbase in the broadest of possible daylight, what else is he capable of?

    “We Must Fund Oppositions Properly to Save Democracy”

    The Financial Times’ Martin Wolf, like quite a few others, looks for ways to save democracy from itself, as in rule by voters.

    Who Is Driving the Global Privatization of Domestic Infrastructure?

    An otherwise informative post about the extent and hazards of infrastructure sales misses who the real bad actors are.

    DOGEbag Roundup: Horrid Website, This Week’s Agency Targets, Sociology of DOGE

    Like Trump, DOGE is very good at sensing weakness.

    2:00PM Water Cooler 2/17/2025

    ~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Humphrey’s Executor on the chopping block; Elon’s (putative) baby momma; Velvet ropes and the American dream ~

    We Are Restoring Comments

    We are restoring comments. Please read this post in full before commenting.

    Hoisted from Comments: A Discussion of China’s Faltering Growth

    An example of the comments section at work, here on China, with both some very informative reader content and some sour notes.

    Links 2/17/2025

    A Win in Long-Running Kentucky Retirement Systems Pension Case: Attorney General Thwarted in Scheme to Settle Claims Against KKR and Blackstone on the Cheap

    In a step forward for long-suffering Kentucky Retirement Systems (now Kentucky Public Pension Authority) beneficiaries, attorneys for so-called Tier 3 Plaintiffs beat back a scheme by Attorney General Russell Coleman to settle claims against private equity kingpins KKR and Blackstone on the cheap…oh, and completely drop claims against their top partners, here the famed Henry […]