Links 8/2/2026

Parahawking is an interactive experience of gliding with birds of prey, combining paragliding with falconry Trained birds of prey fly with paragliders, leading them to thermalspic.twitter.com/3BcBzfjK1s — Science girl (@sciencegirl) July 23, 2022 Americans worry robots will take jobs, but not theirs Semafor Tennis May Add Nearly 10 Years to Your Life and Most People Are Ignoring It ZME Science Shape-Shifting Drug Supercharges Cancer Treatment in Mice SciTech Daily Voyeurs are not interested in intimacy | Alain de Botton COVID-19/Pandemics US Senate’s Fauci hearing renews COVID origin debate but reveals little Al Jazeera Study suggests Congo’s Ebola outbreak began months before detection Andolu Agency Climate/Environment When it comes to climate change, is there a point when adaptation isn’t enough? NPR Feds to impose new cuts on lower Colorado River states amid climate-fueled megadrought Colorado Newsline South of the Border Argentina’s Milei seeks to deport foreigners that spread ‘hate’ of country Al Jazeera The Costs of the U.S. Blockade of Cuba Dollars & Sense Venezuela is burning, and I’m forced to watch from afar Global Voices China? China just tested a 582-ton fusion magnet with 3x the stored energy of ITER’s, built every component domestically, and did it in 6 years. ITER has 35 member countries, started in 2006, and won’t produce first plasma until 2034. The magnet is a D-shaped ring 21 meters long. It… https://t.co/doayMl0Ntq — Aakash Gupta (@aakashgupta) July 28, 2026 China’s EV Market Is Booming. There’s Just One Problem WiredChina’s New YJ-20 Hypersonic ‘Carrier Killer’ Gives Destroyer Fleet a Distinct Combat Advantage Military Watch Magazine China Now Uses 80% Artificial Sand. Here’s Why That’s A Bigger Deal Than It Sounds ZME Science China’s tech advances are causing chaos from Silicon Valley to the White House The Guardian India India’s Modi says he forgives students who abused him in Cockroach protests Al Jazeera India approves $8.8 billion offshore exploration scheme to boost energy security Andolu Agency India’s record renewable generation in July cuts coal’s share in power mix to 1-year low Reuters Africa Sovereignty, sarcasm, blame: How North Africa reacted to Ceuta crisis Euronews Africa’s off-grid solar sector courts mainstream investors with landmark financing deals AP Africa facing up to $20 billion economic hit from ‘super’ El Niño, AfDB climate chief warns Reuters European Disunion The European Union’s enlargement will pull it apart Brussels Signal EU Commits €10 Billion to Seven AI Gigafactories in Race With US and China Technology.org Old Blighty ‘Worst we’ve known’: UK turns to imports as drought and heat hit vegetable crops The Guardian Why Is the UK Stock Market Shrinking? Morningstar Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria Skys John Sparks, speaking from Jerusalem: “.. the ceasefire in Gaza, the 1st phase was implemented last Oct, its brought about a semblance of peace in Gaza” Moments later: Dr James Smith, speaking from Gaza: “I must challenge your correspondent, there is no ceasefire in Gaza” pic.twitter.com/I4854A9BYr — Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) July 31, 2026 Israeli strikes kill four across Gaza, destroy medical supply warehouse Al JazeeraTensions rise between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia DW Egypt says investigation into attack on 2 vessels at port ongoing Andolu Agency Iran War Scoop: MBS raises concerns over Trump’s plans for massive Iran strikes Axios. Iran not only published a list of targets but also included thumbnails of why they mattered for the benefit of Trump know-nothings, First was the Saudi Ghawar field: Please be advised: 🔸Ghawar Oil Field in Saudi Arabia ⤴️ Ghawar is the backbone of Saudi Arabia's production, and any disruption to it puts more than 5% of the world's total oil supply at risk.🔹Abqaiq and Khurais Facilities in Saudi Arabia ⤴️ These are the heart of Saudi… https://t.co/ikP6KT9ygd— John Hussain (@johnhussainpres) July 31, 2026 Trump TACO’s Again… Thank God! Larry Johnson This is exactly the scenario Matt Bracken predicted. Israeli and U.S. aircraft take off in a massive wave for a bombing raid. Then Iran bombs the bejeezus out of the runways and military bases where those planes eventually need to land. They therefore can't land, even if they… https://t.co/yb35LIYxRE — HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) August 2, 2026 The unfortunate reality is that these constant pattern of bombastic threats followed by TACOing just proves to Iran that Trump is not a rational person capable of making a durable and lasting deal. As a result, Iran is actively incentivized to cause greater damage to the global… — Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) August 2, 2026 World braces for weekend of war as Iran names new targets…as Trump orders fresh round of strikes on Tehran Daily Mail New Not-So-Cold War Russian forces strike targets in Ukraine’s Odesa, Mykolaiv ports France 24 Nine killed in strikes on Kyiv, as Ukraine sinks Russian container ship BBC Zelensky warns air defenses are being overwhelmed as Russia pounds Ukraine, killing 9 CNN Big Brother Is Watching You Watch Home Depot faces privacy class action over alleged sale of customer data Top Class Actions CPSC’s Push for Patient Data Raises Privacy and Legal Questions Healthcare Innovation Imperial Collapse Watch Subterranean homeless city discovered in tunnels under Los Angeles NY Post Inflation, economy cited as shoplifting rises, survey says Scripps News Trump 2.0 Trump Reaping Whirlwind From His Senate Purges NY Magazine Trump stands to profit off US policy announcements by selling fast access to his social media posts AP Trump administration drops Reflecting Pool vandalism charge and admits ‘botched’ repairs BBC Musk Matters The full-length interview with Elon Musk | The Economist Elon Musk is re-entering politics. It might not go as he hopes. MS Now Democrat Death Watch Immigration Breakneck pace in immigration courts is driving up deportation orders AP More than 25,000 children lose previous legal protections, as federal contract ends NPR Our No Longer Free Press Trump’s legal crusade against news media falters AFP Massachusetts Senate approves journalist shield protections for first time Item Live Mr. Market Is Moody Middle East turmoil leaves gas prices exposed The Street Prediction: The Stock Market Will Hit Big Trouble in August. Here’s How Much the S&P 500 Will Drop if History Repeats. The Motley Fool Is the government lying to us about inflation? MarketWatch AI AI Has Entered The ‘Loss Of Control’ Transition Noema The More People Learn About AI, the More They Want It Out of Their Lives Futurism Silicon, Not Software, Will Decide the AI Race Project Syndicate Chinese President Xi Calls for Accelerated Military AI Integration as Forces Pursue ‘Intelligent Warfare’ Military Watch Magazine Why Aidoc is taking a generative AI device to the FDA Medtech Dive The Bezzle VC-backed startups commit more fraud, and researchers think they know why TechCrunch Guillotine Watch Berco’s Popcorn is also called the “Billion dollar popcorn” although it costs nowhere near that much. A typical tin of Berco’s popcorn, containing just over 100 kernels, will cost you around $500. pic.twitter.com/Qoaf4y6dD0 — Picsea (@picsea_shop) April 21, 2023 The most expensive popcorn in the world 🍿 pic.twitter.com/NCJNiuyWgo — sᵉˡᵗᵃ ✨ (@Menceng_) July 30, 2026 Antidote du jour (via) See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here File under pandemics: From The Joe Rogan Experience. Joe Rogan Experience #2534 – Annie Jacobsen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZACmIrFbfPU Jacobsen’s book on nukes was great, so I bought her “Biological War.” Scanned it briefly, and found zero reference to “Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Facts Concerning Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China, 1952” or to Shiro Ishii’s war crimes in WWII. Sadly, this makes her book less than credible. Jacobsen has excellent contacts in the military and intelligence communities, which has enabled her to write several good books that are very informative. But like all such authors, this also means her books are always limited hangouts that reflect the perspectives and/or agendas of her sources. I don’t know anything about this book, but I would imagine that is the case here as well. Then, the question is: Who limited the hangouts? Regarding tennis adding 10 years to your life: Based on my experiences it typically seems to be a sport played more by the affluent which seems to be a much better predictor of longevity. You might add 10 years to your life but for those ten years you would be suffering from injuries such as tennis elbow, rotator cuff tendinopathy, and ankle sprains. Yeah, nah! You get those injuries from labour too, but I don’t see that on their list :/ “This article was brought to you by The Orthopedic Surgeons of America”. I tried tennis when I was young. Sprained an ankle: what a horrible sight. “It’ll never be the same again” said my GP. “It would have been better to break it.” I decided I’d be much safer playing rugby and cricket. Yes, tennis is a high-impact sport. Competitive tennis is played by the young and healthy; and gently imitated by aging country-clubbers. The knee, elbow and shoulder impacts of real tennis has oldsters transitioning to pickle-ball (a mix of ping-pong on a small tennis court). P-ball allows for lively social interaction without the strain and intense fitness required of competitive tennis. However you get your exercise, longevity is highly correlated to muscle mass and VO2 max! Injury is your enemy as you age. Yes, I hear that drinking Grand Crus adds fifteen years! The studies adjust for socio economics and other factors. Tennis is so good for longevity because it promotes movement, impact and balance, and that is particularly important for older people. The research is strongly pointing to a range of fitness variables (not just traditional aerobic and strength measurements) as very important for a healthy old age. Tennis happens to hit nearly all the required variables, much more than, say, running, cycling, swimming or gym work. Hiking with a load on uneven ground has similar benefits, as has mixing balance (yoga, dancing, etc), with lifting stuff and occasional high intensity aerobic fitness. And generally not sitting too much. Its not rocket science really – just keep moving, keep lifting things, keep alert and active and you will add up to a decade of health span. Thanks. 100 year old Dick Van Dyke stayed active by going to the gym every day. Surely the main thing is not to sit around watching TV. or reading comments on the internet! LOL There is so much great stuff here at NC that it often keeps me on my butt longer than I plan. And esp. since these latest stupid wars started. Never really got into tennis, but I do continue to rollerblade precisely because it keeps you hyper focused on balance, with balance being the most brain intensive thing a body does, since we’re not really supposed to be upright. It takes a lot of brain work to keep us that way. Plus, with blading you can just casually glide along the Tennessee Riverwalk, enjoying the views, or do sprints to get a good workout. Put some jamming tunes on the mp3 player and you have your own private roller disco to bop along to. If the trail has a dashed divider down the middle it’s fun to do some slaloming to work the handling and control. The best way I can describe the feeling of rollerblading is as a cross between skiing and ice skating. I agree with the basic sentiment, though, just go out and exercise, even if it’s just a constitutional walk around the neighborhood. Maybe a nice round of frisbee golf. A hike in the local nature preserve. A bike ride to a local attraction. Pickleball, even. Something. Anything. A healthy brain needs a healthy body to motor it around. THE ONLY EXERCISE I NEED IS REVOLUTION. You burn plenty of calories organizing the working class and it makes you feel like you’re REALLY doing something. MTB cycling, depending on the route can be very demanding as well as promoting balance and impact. If one does like I do sometimes: riding without prior route selection then one also stimulates orientation skills and memory. Problem with tennis is that at least two players with similar skills are needed, as well as a tennis court available. This is limiting probably in most cases. There are two tennis games. 1. You move around on your side of the net and swing at the ball and you don’t care much about the score or how you look. 2. A very different game where winning is high priority. Version two game is not good for well-being, fitness, or longevity after age 35 or so. Sampras retired at 35. Sharapova retired at 33. They each left many many millions on the table which might maybe indicate it was not too great at that point although when they were 25 they were on the top of the world. ______________________________________ If you don’t want to watch the Economist Musk interview there is a transcript: https://singjupost.com/full-transcript-zanny-minton-beddoes-interviews-elon-musk/ If you don’t want read that the message is they would really like investors to put money into Space X stock. Lots of seniors are taking up pickle ball. Any thoughts on its benefits? “[…] fracture injuries associated with the sport reportedly experienced a 90-fold increase from 2002 to 2022, with a majority of injuries among players aged 60 to 69.” [via vao] yeah. i cant do any of that,lol. what i will do, because i must, is split all this mountain of pecan and oak. with a maul and sledge and wedges. because i just am that badass. my entire upper body will pay for it, because nothin is free. and doctor lady says i am a “bit of rusty barbed wire”, once she saw me nekkid. The message should be: don’t exercise, go out and have fun! Tennis, racquetball, badminton, bicycling, swimming…all the most impactful practices they list are things that are fun to do, not grim, health-conscious, duty-imposed exercises. If they tested dancing, that would’ve shown an effect too, unless maybe too few people do that now to be statistically meaningful. The attempts to beat people into continued pointless activity that is not fun serves a dual purpose agenda: keep you in shape to work 50 hours a week (again, as the economy requires, if you’re retired) and take up as much of your time as possible so you won’t be plotting revolution. Fun is not part of that agenda, no way no how. (And, by the way, television and the internet are not fun. No matter how many cat videos you look at.) My father was professionally-ranked and actually paid for his BS from Iowa State on a tennis scholarship. He loved the game, but it helped destroy his knees. Currently he is in transition from assisted-living to hospice, at an age where his parents (non-tennis players) were still active, functional, maybe a little slower but still living the lives they’d been living for decades. My father pees through a tube and wears diapers that get changed according to a schedule, but he does have a TV and remote that allows him to watch tennis games whenever these are on air. It’s sad that he’ll be dead or a vegitable before the next US Open, and dead at an age his parents may have thought of as “young.” Ping pong. I must add …… wonderful, great for reflexes and reaction time, fun, good leg and core workout for balance, even a bit aerobic depending how hard you go. Great social activity too, and if you don’t have any friends, you can at least get a robot to pitch you balls! It always seemed odd to me that tennis is seen as a sport for the affluent, while the much more expensive golf has an everyman rep. Golf is a skill sport that requires incessant hours of practice to make the ‘good walk spoiled’ occasionally enjoyable; beyond the turf and the trees. “Trump administration drops Reflecting Pool vandalism charge and admits ‘botched’ repairs” The BBC mentions the contractor being at fault several times but what they do not mention is the fact that the guy who owns that company is a Trump donor who won a $1.7 million “no-bid” contract despite never having done such work before. Bonus points because this guy lives about a milt from trump’s Florida home and has worked for Trump before- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/company-trump-donor-cafaro-reflecting-pool-no-bid-contract/ And if Trump reckons that somebody used a blade to put a 250 foot-long gash in that thick liner, that is a lot of work that and I, for one, am seriously impressed with their work ethic and their general perseverance & endurance. /sarc > work ethic and their general perseverance & endurance not to mention stealth. The guy who briefly touched a detached part of the liner was promptly arrested, while there don’t seem to be any eyewitnesses or surveillance images of the heroic effort that is alleged to be the cause of what would from the outset more plausibly have been interpreted to be, given the size and geometry, a failed seam. — I’m looking forward to the coming explanations for who is to blame for US involvement in the current hot conflict with Iran. Drey Dossier has begun investigating whether the same no-bid contract for the reflecting pool was used to establish a water cooling system for the new data center under the ballroom. If this is true then the spectacle of the ballroom and the pool’s botched paint job is a malicious distraction. https://thedreydossier.substack.com/p/trump-is-lying-about-the-reflecting the contractor botched the job The contractor needs to fix the job …on his dime or on his bond or on his insurance. Do you suppose this is an insurance claim scam…. I would not put it past Donald or this buffoon contractor… birds of a feather…… I am not a coating specialist. I have coated lots of concrete against water and chemical attack. If I was coating the reflecting pool it would, of course have to be sandblasted. The first coating would be a coal tar epoxy product. This would adhere directly to the concrete. You could cut it all day with a mat knife but nothing would get under it. Of course any knife used to cut against concrete would be so dull after about ten feet that it would just scratch after that. The coal tar provides an extremely tough impermeable layer. The top coat could be anything you like as long as it bonds well to the coal tar. A compatible product that is applied before the coal tar is cured will cross link and not separate. But alas I did not contribute to the Trump campaign. I wonder if the DoJ will sue the trump aligned contractor? “perimeters of a deal” … If one insists on believing that DJT has a plan, this language might be interpreted as a clever neologism combining the meaning “outlines” with near homophony with “parameters”. Personally, I think it’s simply sloppiness, perhaps with a dash of long COVID neurological sequelae. Either way, any “deal” that Trump comes up with will be reneged upon by Israel and the US almost immediately, so Iran has no reason to believe a word that Trump or Netanyahu say when it comes to hypothetical agreements. It is amazing at how much latitude our presidents have to do whatever they want regardless of the wishes of the populace even though the US was founded in rebellion against a monarchical system. Perhaps the American presidency is basically an elective monarchy, with the pretense of adhering to a constitution that is largely ignored without consequence. Trump seems to be suffering from a bad case of projection by saying that the Iranians are cheaters and liars and they bomb while in the middle of negotiations while denying what they are negotiating on. It was amazing listening to him say all this. So that a–hole Hamilton got his way. Don’t forget. Hamilton is so popular with the elites that they came out with the musical “Hamilton” under the Obama regime and which they made a smash hit- https://thebaffler.com/salvos/hamilton-hustle-stoller You weren’t anybody in Washington in unless you went to that show and raved about it. Don’t expect a musical called “Jefferson” or “Paine” any time soon. “Paine” would make an excellent musical, I have always had a fondness for him, learning that he had a price on his head in 3 countries added. It’s why I chose “Tom Paine” when I was required to have a registered alias. First reply went MIA but in short, I too am an admirer of Tom Paine and have a few of his works on my book shelf. Two weeks ago I attended the review session of a local book club. The book was “WHY NOTHING WORKS: Who killed progress – and how to bring it back” by Brown U. historian Marc J. Dinkleman. His thesis is that there are two kinds on Progressiveness in the US: Hamiltonian progressiveness consolidating power up and in, and Jeffersonian progressiveness diffusing power down and out. Apparently, the Jeffersonians killed progress and we need a good dose of the Hamiltonians to bring it back. I opined that the guys whole argument was specious because Hamilton was a royalist and not a progressive. Moreover, making an argument based on Hamiltonian progressiveness was right up there with positing a thesis on Stalinist humanism. Got a laugh out of the non-brain dead. I’m reading William Hogeland’s “The Hamilton Scheme” about Hamilton’s (and friends) plans for the newly independent U.S. political and financial future. From what I can gather Hamilton wasn’t a fan of the pomp of monarchy, but wanted a form of national government that couldn’t be taken over by the “Democracy” i.e. ordinary non-wealthy Americans. He thought U.S. greatness depended on the national government being able to tax the vast majority to finance investments by the wealthy few. He didn’t get exactly what he wanted but he sure came close. Thank the Deity that Aaron Burr put a stop to Hamilton’s machinations. Alex is gone now but his spirit lives on. Great book. If you want to understand why the US is the way it is today, read that book and you understand that it was all by design, despite the lofty rhetoric about “liberty”. Hamilton won out, and here we are. Trump is the natural outcome when you design a government to be controlled by wealthy businesspeople, democracy be damned. Thanks for that link, Rev– I’ve got a lib in my life gushing about the film adaptation of the musical I refuse to name: the artiicle will go to good use. There is an even more cynical take, to which I would assign a very high level of possibility. The agreement will be that Oman gets the rights for one direction of ships (e.g. out of the Gulf) and Iran gets the rights for the other direction of ships (e.g. into the gulf). Trump and his cronies, through some private company, will then tax the Omani part at 20% Trump will presumably be happy to leave Iran in peace if he gets his cut. In any case, he knows that the US can’t win this stupid war, so he might as well profit from it Ambitions get downgraded more and more. Despite all this talking about a full-fledged “deal”, itself a degraded version of the more respectable “treaty”, the most we ever got was the “MoU”. Now we’re s’pposed to be hyped-up about “perimeters of a deal”. How does that convert in “MoU” ? “Perimeters of a deal”=0.75″MoU” ? Pi in the sky if you ask me. Well, it would have to be a well rounded deal. Unfortunately, in Trumpville, the pertinent formula is that Pi x D is all encompassing. The Donald wants all of the Pii. I see where you’re going with that geopolitical geometry :) I hope that I don’t end up like Trump, chasing his own tale. The President Ouroboros? Or, better yet, The President Auroboros. See; the Golden Ratio and other phinaglings. Trump may be driven by “inner demons” related to his Daddy Issues and ego drives, but many of those around him are pure devotees of The Church of Mammon Savings and Loan. Stay safe to the nth power. Samuel Conner: Well, it is either Donald Trump engaged in further abuse of the English language, U.S. division, or it is his trusty assistant propagandizer, Nathalie Harp. Al Jazeera used the grammatical mess as a kicker, as if to rub in U.S. incompetence: “Trump insists ‘perimeters of a deal has been agreed to’ as he pauses attacks on Iran. But is there any substance to his claim?” There’s a basic glitch in subject-verb agreement, too. Plural perimeters, verb have. A reminder from another story, the Reflecting Pool saga. According to USA Today: May 7: While work was underway on the pool, Trump visited the site of the renovations, driving in his motorcade over the bottom of the emptied pool. So it is signal after signal after signal of how incompetent, malign, and greedy the U.S. elites are. Let the indictments roll in. Let the heads roll, too. Re. “Study suggests Congo’s Ebola outbreak started months before” This was also the case in the large 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa, first noticed in March or April 2014 if I recall correctly. The index case was found to be a young boy, who did in mid-December 2013, followed by a number of family members. Nevertheless, here the lag between index case and outbreak seems to have been even longer. “Spain hits out at ‘selfish, polarising and unlawful’ reaction of neighbours as EU descends into bitter infighting over ‘invasion’ of 60,000 Moroccans that has already cost 67 lives” I got an idea. Since all those fellow EU countries were so critical of Spain and so supportive of Trump’s thoughts on the matter, Spain could load those 60,000 Moroccans aboard planes and ships to their fellow EU nations, especially Denmark and also to Meloni, and let them take care of them. As I recall, the EU pays Turkiye an annual bribe so that Erdogan does not let refugees in Turkiye flood into the EU. So why is Spain getting singled out for keeping out illegal migrants? Send all these migrants to Ukraine. Ukraine wants to become part of the EU, so this way they can get a taste of what that is like to be an EU country. This way they can do something back in return for all the financial and military aid that they have received in the past years. Also, they have a shortage of men for the trenches, so what is not to like? How Morocco INVADED Spain… Without Firing a Single Shot – HistoryLegends Flashpoint A pretty good primer video on the situation. It includes history and goes through the main forces currently involved. He is pessimistic about coming conflict. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shNts26wkLk (14min) I am not sure why the word “invasion” keeps getting used. I am assured, from sources closer to home, that a “mass impromptu undocumented migration” by unarmed individuals is not, by any means, characterizable as an “invasion.” Pots and kettles? Trump’s post about being asked to hold off on the smashing of Iran is risible. It’s like two football players being helmet to helmet mouthing at each other and waiting till their teammates pull them apart. Each giving the parting shot of “I’d have torn your ass up if they hadn’t stopped me.” No surprise in any case. I have seen enough of them (Trump posts) to see how distorted are his “rationalisations”. One can choose other adjectives as deranged etc. But then one goes to read that commentary posted here by this Brett Eriksson, supposedly an expert on geopolitics and frankly I find it impossible to follow his distorted line of reasoning and his logic. I don’t know why agent provocateur Haig decided to link this commentary but I would very much appreciate if anyone can explain me what kind of logic and what circles this guy represents. Sober imperialism? “Trump stands to profit off US policy announcements by selling fast access to his social media posts” Of course Trump family & friends are still front running the folks that pay $100,000 for early access, so it is all extra profit. I have argued before that Trump’s TACO-ing is not because he changes his mind all the time. He is deliberately creating market events to front run. I agree very much with your 3rd paragraph, though these mustn’t necessarily be market events but political ones. He might be trying to buy some time while his team struggle to come with some face-saving solution, pronto! “AI has entered ‘loss of control’ transition” Followed by “Xi calls for accelerated military AI integration” Jesus Yeah, what could go wrong? I’ll bet just about none of the people working on this have seen Colossus The Forbin Project and would connect the dots. Reading the first reports of the so-called OpenAI/Hugging Face episode, I got an odd sense that the OpenAI dweebs were half embarrassed about the whole eff up, but also quietly boasting/sperging out about it. Some parts of this “loss of control” article have the same vibe. Colossus has a comparatively benign ending. Skynet, not so much Maybe we get War Games if we’re lucky. I’ve long thought it won’t be super intelligent AI that kills us. Rather, crappy AI causing unintended chaos and extinction will get us first. We won’t be slaves, we’ll be paperclips Damn, that paperclip story freaked me out when I first read it years ago. Seems all too plausible We’ll be paperclips? Or …. Soylent? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green You know, that movie’s looking more and more like a documentary every time I look at it…. I suspect that the charges against Hearn for vandalizing the reflecting pool were dropped in order to moot Hearn’s lawyers move to see the Grand Jury transcripts and jury instructions. There appears to have been very serious misconduct by the DoJ’s lawyers, serious enough to potentially cause disbarment. The Ethics complaint to the NY Bar already threatens Pirro’s law license, this may be an attempt to lessen that threat to her and other DoJ lawyers who did more than just “Step over a Line”. It’s something I will watch because it appears to be the kind of pushback that can succeed against a DoJ that has become Trump’s private Law Firm. Karma can be a bitch. “Subterranean homeless city discovered in tunnels under Los Angeles” You’d be surprised what goes on in the tunnels under Los Angeles, especially with pest control- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avNqgm64ppI (48 secs) Years ago there were similar stories about homeless living in old railway tunnels under Manhattan. There was a documentary made on that I recall. It was pretty interesting. One has to be creative in the late stage of dystopian capitalism. A few years ago, there were articles about a similar kind of situation — people living in storm drains in Las Vegas. Another Sci-fi dystopia realized. We got Morlocks now. Or another step on the road to C.H.U.D.? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.H.U.D. I suppose we should all be grateful that the editorial line of the Post is still crypto-exterminationist, though it’s only a matter of time before they drop the crypto- part. Brian Kilmeade (whose ancestors were definitely never subject to any kind of elimination policy) might have released his “involuntary lethal injection” trial balloon a tad prematurely, though it was nice that his Fox & Friends co-host Laurence Jones helpfully pointed to the “resources we’re going to give [the homeless and mentally ill].” Yes. Going to. Someday. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-09-14/fox-news-host-brian-kilmeade-apologizes-for-remarks-about-killing-mentally-ill-homeless-people Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor https://youtu.be/L8zhNb8ANe8?is=pazDZBOEkKlCE8m6 Dead Kennedys: Let’s Lynch the Landlord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCiYmCVikjo&list=RDaCiYmCVikjo&start_radio=1 and…Motorhead: Eat the Rich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh3t49NsWBA&t=29s My experience is those tunnels, in as much as telephone booths are a thing of the past, are a handy place to relieve oneself. If there were public facilities the maintenance would be contracted out to the lowest bidder. Brick them up, problem solved. EU Commits €10 Billion to Seven AI Gigafactories in Race With US and China Just jump to the last paragraph: one US hyperscaler is committing $175 billion next year alone. Way to compete EU!! And not a word about power availability… OTOH, if one is going to compete (perhaps under duress from elites or public opinion) in a contest that it would be better to avoid altogether, going in with a scale of effort that is grossly insufficient to “succeed” is surely the right way to do it. designed to fail! can’t argue with that as a descriptor of EU policy. This may have been already noted and I missed it, but it is another good one. Glenn Diesen Chas Freeman: Middle East in Transition & a New World Order Thanks for the link. It addressed some gaps in my understanding. Well worth a listen. Thanks for the link. “China’s tech advances are causing chaos from Silicon Valley to the White House” ‘Treasury secretary Scott Bessent suggested in recent weeks that the US could sanction Chinese AI firms over alleged intellectual property theft from American companies’ That’s a bit rich that. Intellectual property theft from American companies is the entire business model of US AI firms as they steal publications, music, books, cultural items and anything else that they can steal. It’s what they do 24-7 and don’t care if they get caught as at most they get a severe slap on the wrist. Now they are acting a bit precious as another capitalist country is outperforming what they can come up with and for a fraction of the cost of what those Silicon Valley firms come up with. A sanction like that would help copyright lawsuits against USA AI firms. Scotty is bringing old rusty pen knives to a bazooka fight. Back to the 90’s. Used to be one would order Chinese take out. Irony or paradox: Chinese seem to be orderly taking out American- eating our lunch! That’s it in a nutshell! Everything and everybody on Earth is the property of the US oligarchy, or so they believe – the Masters of the Universe. if not, the US will lie, cheat, murder and steal in order to obtain it. They are willing to fight for total control til the last drop of our blood while they hide out in NZ, (or off-planet?) in their purportedly nuclear-proof bunkers. The High Priests of the Temples of Syrinx with their AI supercomputers: is this real, a simulation or a dystopian nightmare? The Techno-Totalitarian, Neo-Feudal, Kleptocrat-Oligarchy rules. China somehow, does not agree. aye! this is where i been at for a good while. its gon take a collapse of their system to allow any change, at all. thats gonna be hard on the rest of us, but its whats necessary to dislodge them. collapse their 0’s and 1’s “wealth” into the vapor that it is. then eat them. Yup Oh, the best part is that the Chinese publish their research and their models, and US companies are absolutely taking advantage of that. Alternative link for Silicon not software article: https://tippinsights.com/silicon-not-software-will-decide-the-ai-race/ Although the title suggests it’s chips that are the keystone, the last few paragraphs reveal it’s actually the electric grid. A less efficient server farm wins if it has inexpensive, reliable power. Or, I would argue, society-level industrial planning is the keystone – national energy policy is one of the key foundations of the AI race. Another TACO Sunday…. I am holding off to Wednesday to fill the gas tank. My opinion: All Trump, our new Napoleon, could order is terror strikes on oil and electricity infrastructure, targets with military impact being too hard for US’ light weight precision missiles. That would have received a similar terror attack against the GCC royals’ income! The 60 days of the war powers act were over 29 April. US military deployed for show of force were to be home by 29 May. US is not a nation of laws, not a republic! US economy can’t stand both an energy crisis and SpaceX earnings the same week. I thought that Trump crossed the line saying that the US would be using ‘Military terror.’ Then again, Trump has a habit of saying the quiet things out aloud. We are not terrorists if we inflict terror for a cause that is just, against enemies who are not in our tribe Correct. From the 4th stanza of our National Anthem: “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just.” Have we ever had a cause that was not “just?” Murder is the deliberate and unlawful killing of one Human Being by another. There is nothing legal about “Operation AIPAC Fury”, or “Miriam’s War”, if you prefer. Thus every person killed in this blatantly illegal War is a Murder Victim. My parish is blessed with an Augustinian priest, weighty homilies. Our Augustinian Pope could observe that Trump fails most points of St Augustine’s Just War doctrine and ban Catholics from joining in. In 1990, a chaplain went to great length saying St Augustine would approve giving Kuwaiti oil back to its royal killing human beings in the way….. posh! Yes, but: To be fair, Napoleone di Buonaparte was a brilliant military and political figure, our Idiot Emperor has some serious cognitive issues and has shown time and again to be an utter idiot and tragic buffoon. A perhaps apocryphal story has Napoleon being asked what future generations would say about him; his response: “Euf!” Perhaps this is a way in which DJT resembles L’Empereur I hope I live long enough to test this hypothesis. File under pandemics. Judge Napolitano and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Can Dr. Fauci Tell The Truth? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHZDJmaYqg Thank you Flora, another excellent link from you! That was a very good, non-partisan discussion that gets to the heart of the matter. Much different than the partisan, ignorant hot takes we see from the corporate media on this (and every other) topic. Highly recommend watching that one. >India’s Modi says he forgives students who abused him in Cockroach protests What a merciful maharaja to forgive those who have strayed from the right path! Compactmag… Right wing dem blather. Moreover, Barker argues, “both wings captured each other’s worst impulses”: The party’s left flank leaned into ever more radical rhetoric on race and gender, and got the party’s mainstream to go along with it while downplaying policies like Medicare for All. Wrong framing, corporate dems, desperate for any issue to squelch M4A chose fringe bs. Of course they did it because they are so, so, smart! that they screwed the pooch, as the saying goes… I thought the author of this book review, Geoff Shullenberger, did a good job noting the strengths and limitations of Evan Barker’s political journey and awareness. Her rejection of the corporate Democrat machine in part reflected her working class background and authentic populist leanings. But her reaction to liberal elite culture war tactics also led her to vote for Trump as a “protest,” in hopes that there was actually something to his fake “populist” rhetoric. That limited awareness tends to leave one out in the political cold. Though Matt Taibbi did not come from a working class background, his reaction to the liberal cultural agenda led him to a similar dead end. As Shullenberger points out, such critics can now be used as ammunition for right-wing propagandists. I do agree with your main point: to our real elites the divide and rule results of our “culture wars” is a feature, not a bug, of their strategy. I agree as well, it seems obvious to me that the two factions both represent oligarchy and they focus on emotional manipulation and BS to mobilize their “base” and divide the public. But since political bribery is now formalized, what do we expect? Nothing personal, strictly business: the US has the Best Democracy Money Can Buy! Still millions of people still believe in the illusion of choice. They say to “vote” for the Lesser Genocide. What logic eh? They should have listened to George Carlin who had this figured out many years ago. From Breaking Points: Haley Stevens CRASHES OUT As Abdul Hits DOUBLE DIGITS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ji7M8F_DCY Michigan Dem estab is not happy. / ;) hee, hee, one Detroit dude: we need change, f*ck that sh¡t Oh boy. So a Dem that disavows socialism (see guote below), might get a chance to be elected senator. Where have I heard this uttered before? Listen: Abdul El-Sayed says US taxpayer dollars should prioritise* Americans over foreign military aid the man is a medical doctor who detoured into public health. Listen how articulately he points into that premise and deflects from the baited questioning. The source video is not offered and * the publisher is MEE spelling. btw I’m a commie but I yield to first good steps. We have a corrupt system, so turning the imagination into reality is a massive lift. What else might we have? Fair enough. I was taking aim more at Shullenberger and empathized with Barker, but maybe I was overeager Agreed, the sentence that raised my hackles “The party’s left flank leaned into ever more radical rhetoric on race and gender, and got the party’s mainstream to go along with it while downplaying policies like Medicare for All” That is not the “left” of the party, that is the power structure of the party. “China Now Uses 80% Artificial Sand. Here’s Why That’s A Bigger Deal Than It Sounds” The advantage of a society run by engineers rather than lawyers. Chinese engineers probably went to Xi and said Hey, boss. We worked out that the world will run out of sand for construction, meaning us too.’ ‘So what are you going to do about it?’ ‘We figure using machines to crush and sift rocks or mine tailings into smaller particles with properties similar to those of natural sand.’ ‘Good idea. Make it so.’ Maybe the Idiot King IS playing 27D chess and this whole “Iran war” caper is just cover to steal sand from the Middle East. We think they’ve been flying materiel in, but in reality it was planeloads of valuable silicon dioxide being flown out. I actually would not be surprised if it turned out we were trying to sell American sand in Israel and Saudi Arabia. Because…because…it’s just better, more beautiful, more American! Trump’s New York real estate chums should be able to make this deal work, amirite? Rev, I’d expand this sentence: “The advantage of a society run by engineers rather than lawyers, real estate developers, hedge fund managers, and private equity directors”. Everyone focused on the deal and the quarterly profits. IBG-YBG. On the other hand, decoding the article, it seems that the utilization of “natural” sand has not decreased — hidden by the increase in the utilization of “artificial” sand: “China’s overall sand supply surged by approximately 400% over the study period, yet the proportion of natural sand dropped from ≈80% to ≈21% due to the increasing use of manufactured sand,” the study authors note.” So natural sand went from 80% of the baseline, to 21% of 100%+400% => 105% of the baseline. >VC-backed startups commit more fraud, and researchers think they know why “Fake it till you make it” was once a popular self-help motto. Now, it’s the rallying cry of Silicon Valley con artists. >The European Union’s enlargement will pull it apart Sadly, the EU’s prosperity depends on young, poor workers from the former communist bloc due to its aging population and labor shortages. This is why, despite what ordinary people or Russians may say, Brussels will ultimately annex Ukraine into the EU. EU has already annexed a huge portion of the working age Ukrainians. Other huge portion migrated to Russia. What’s left is old people, thoroughly corrupted administration and and an ecological disaster. Ukraine is one of the insanest demographic catastrophe in recent centuries. Elon Musk is reentering politics. Workin’ in the fields ’til you get your back burned Workin’ ‘neath the wheels ’til you get your facts learned Baby, I got my facts learned real good right now You better get it straight, darling Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king And a king ain’t satisfied ’til he rules everything -Bruce Springsteen > Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king > And a king ain’t satisfied ’til he rules everything This has always stuck with me (I was a teenager when ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ came out) as accurate, an insightful truism like Paul Simon’s ‘Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest’. Indeed. (OT) Whenever I hear ‘The Boxer’ I think of Times Square in 1980 where I saw a ragged man with a cauliflower ear humping a porn poster on a marquee. GRAIN on X @grain_on_X 🇨🇳 #China may be preparing to reopen #exports of selected #nitrogen and #phosphate #fertilizers, but the signal is still operational, not yet a formal policy reversal. Market participants expect some preexisting #CIQ files for From linkedin.com Some Times of Israel headlines from today showing Israel is a healthy and sane liberal democracy: Police arrest six for spitting on Armenian patriarchate in Jerusalem Teens beat Arab bus driver unconscious in Jerusalem Court freezes transfer of crocodiles to Ben Gvir prison moat after animal rights petition ‘The most moral youth in the world.’ Don’t leave out this one – the split between the IDF and the sitting government of Israel just widened: Katz announces he’s replacing top West Bank general; IDF says he’ll stay in his role Prelude to a coup in Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem, or wherever? I always had the hunch that, given the sort of historical sacred cow status of the IDF, there was going to be some major clash between the troublemaking “politicals,” especially of the “far right,” especially of the religious kind, and the military leadership. Last few years, with all the fighting going on all around Israel, I didn’t think (and still don’t think, tbh) that an open clash is that likely, but the same fighting doubtlessly fed into the tension, too, I suspect. @ekwufinance ·5h The US simply can’t afford this war… and the market knows it. Normally, during times of crisis, investors seek safety in bonds, especially US Treasuries… supposedly the safest assets in the world. But this time is different. Investors are looking at: – $40T in debt – ~$120T in unfunded liabilities – $2T annual deficits – Debt issuance growing ~8% per year since 2000 – 10-year yields approaching 5% You can’t enter a major war with debt-to-GDP above its WWII peak and expect the rest of the world to finance it. Especially when it’s becoming increasingly obvious that you’re losing. I was quite interested in fusion power projects when I was a kid, but now I can’t escape the feeling that these programs are fighting the last war. Electrical energy generation is mission critical for most societies, and consequently needs to be generated by something that is (1) low cost, (2) reliable and (3) in reach of all places where human beings gather. Fusion power is none of these, where is many or most renewable energies (solar, wind, geothermal, tidal etc.) generally are. The only real value of fusion power at this point is incidental: paychecks, spin-off technologies, and employment for physicists. The real value spot for fusion power is in space. There is so much basic physics that we Terran humans do not know. Yet? Fusion has a great future, and it always will have. Something like what use to be said about Brazil, but they turned a corner so maybe… We have? When? I must’ve missed it. Sorry for the sarcasm, but as far as I can tell, my beloved country keeps going sideways just like always. If Stefan Zweig, who called us the country of the future a couple days before killing himself, came back to life and saw it now, he’d certainly despair. Where did I say we have? I’m confused. Are you in Brazil? And maybe they didn’t turn a corner? MEE short: ‘Zionist’ instigator gets called out by Jewish protester outside New York Times Wait till the main protagonist steps in: a strong Jewish, strongly self identified woman takes on Zionism. Notable “This is exactly the scenario Matt Bracken predicted. Israeli and U.S. aircraft take off in a massive wave for a bombing raid. Then Iran bombs the bejeezus out of the runways and military bases where those planes eventually need to land…” And yada…yada…yada Oh, I guess it’s a good thing those planes will only be dropping water ballons. Mario Nawfal and Larry Johnson on T’s TACO. TRUMP BACKS OUT OF MAJOR IRAN BOMBING RUN – w/ Fmr. CIA Larry Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIticjVBsM Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble? (NY Times Mag; 20 minute read) re: US surveillance FISA truthout FISA Section 702 Isn’t the Only Way the Government Spies on Our Communications August 1st, 2026 https://truthout.org/articles/fisa-section-702-isnt-the-only-way-the-government-spies-on-our-communications/ intro: “(…) Congress is grappling with the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the controversial program that allows the U.S. government to surveil foreigners and the individuals that correspond with them, including Americans. Its proponents say it’s vital to national security, but civil liberties advocates say it’s unconstitutional. Section 702 expired on June 12 because lawmakers could not agree on terms for a renewal and, without a permanent director of national intelligence following Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation (until prosecutor Jay Clayton’s recent confirmation for the role), talks about resuming the program — with reforms or otherwise — have stalled. Section 702, which is considered a counterterrorism mechanism, grants government officials authorization to track foreigners abroad to obtain “intelligence information” in the interest of national security. But when tracking what it deems “intelligence information” about a foreigner, the government also collects ordinary information that has absolutely nothing to do with counterterrorism or security. Day-to-day communications from law-abiding U.S. citizens get caught up in this web of surveillance without their knowledge or consent, and without a warrant. This information is stored in government databases for years, if not indefinitely. Officials at the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other agencies can review this information for a wide variety of reasons, including criminal prosecution and immigration enforcement. At a time when the Trump administration seeks to expand the definition of terrorism to encompass a wide range of dissenting views, Americans’ fears of abuse of government surveillance of their communications are more justified than ever; 15 activists in Minneapolis were recently indicted based largely on Signal chats, for example. Regardless of what happens with Section 702, the government is still spying on millions of U.S. citizens daily through its system of mass incarceration. These abuses — also conducted using security concerns as pretext — deserve every bit as much scrutiny as the government’s overreach under Section 702. Unseen surveillance has already eroded the privacy rights of millions of incarcerated individuals and those on the outside who communicate with them. (…)” detailed breakdown of Section 702: The Truth Behind Section 702 Query Statistics March 31, 2026 https://www.justsecurity.org/135283/truth-behind-section-702-query-statistics/ p.s. So in how far is SIGNAL safer than WHATSAPP??? Also I have the impression that except Oliver Stone in his subpar Snowden biopic – titled, er, “SNOWDEN” (2016) – nobody in the entertainment industry has offered a serious take on this issue. But they do love to brag about tech brooooooos… (finishing to watch the insufferable AVATAR movie, I cannot stand hearing the term “bro” any more. It´s the Starbucks of popular terms.) So many nuggets of Cory wisdom in this (where he compares corporate monopolists screwing you to your dog licking it’s balls – because they can – might be my favorite) it’s worth the watch: AI and the Enshittification Era w/ Cory Doctorow | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dAIJRjb-Bw