Links 7/8/2026

Did elephant energetics decide Hannibal’s Alpine crossing route? Phys.org Early Americans’ primary diet was mammoths, other large mammals EurekAlert! Humanity’s Apex Predator Is on the Move. We’re Not Ready. MedPage Today Mormon crickets flood Idaho, sheriff’s office reminds public to contact pest control, not police ABC4 Climate/Environment Collapse of AMOC ocean current may already be locked in New Scientist Summer flash flooding once again becoming a major story in 2026 as it did last year Balanced Weather After a Weekend of Heavy Rains, Chicago’s Deep Tunnel Is Almost Full Chicago Sun-Times Heat Dome Locks Over Western Europe: Extended Run for Excessive Heatwave establishes Severe Weather Europe Guest post: France’s June heatwave caused more than 2,700 heat-related deaths Carbon Brief Ebola Ebola deaths in Congo top 500 as health workers threaten to strike AP The Koreas South Korea’s Mineral Diplomacy Lands in Ulaanbaatar — With China Watching Closely George Chen China? Alibaba Gets Reprieve From Lobbying Ban Tied To Pentagon’s Curbs Bloomberg Hormuz tests the PRC petrochemical build-out CHINA POLICY leads Southeast Asia Trump resort rises on Vietnam graveyard as US links grow Asia Times Syraqistan Israeli command system identified 850,000 targets in Gaza and Lebanon wars, says supplier The Guardian *** IRGC says it targeted 85 US military sites in response to US attacks Al Mayadeen US revokes Iran oil waiver after Hormuz attacks Al-Monitor *** Ireland bans imports from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine Al Mayadeen Explosions rock Damascus, wounding 18, as French President Macron visits Syria New Arab European Disunion Trump attacks Spain calling it a ‘wasted cause’ and orders trade to stop Euronews Africa US Launches Airstrike in Somalia for Third Day in a Row Antiwar UAE-backed military base taking shape in Somaliland’s Berbera Al Mayadeen IS-Sahel’s Nigeria Claims Signal a New Jihadist Frontier Jamestown O Canada Canadian Defence Attaché Met With Azov Brigade’s Fundraising Arm The Maple Old Blighty Political rivals vow to boycott byelection after Farage quits as MP The Guardian New Not-So-Cold War Ukraine attacks Russian oil tankers RT Russia targets Samsung-Ukraine missile plant in overnight strike – MOD RT Monaco Bombing Suspect Murdered by Military Intelligence Officer, Ukrainian Authorities Say Kyiv Post NATO Summit Air defence discussions will dominate the Ankara Nato summit Intellinews U.S. Advances ATACMS Co-Production Germany Plan to Strengthen NATO Deterrence Defense Feeds The PAC3 Scam Julian MacFarlane Trump Revives Greenland Push, Citing Chinese and Russian Arctic Activity gCaptain US to lift CAATSA sanctions on Türkiye, consider restoring F-35 program: Trump Turkiye Today Trump’s Push for F-35 Deal With Turkey Sets Up Potential Clash With Congress WSJ The Ankara Doctrine Savage Minds US Defence Secretary Hegseth to visit Israel amid concerns over potential F-35 sale to Turkey Middle East Monitor South of the Border Cuba Partially Restores Power 28 Hours After Nationwide Blackout Amid U.S. Oil Blockade TeleSur Trump 2.0 Trump’s SNAP Cuts Leave States and Counties Facing Spiraling Hunger Crisis Truthout GOP Funhouse Ken Paxton Vowed to Crack Down on “Illegal Voting.” He May Have Violated Texas Election Law. ProPublica Trump birthright citizenship push poses headaches for divided GOP The Hill Can DSA Really Win Red America? Les Leopold Democrats Suck Troy Jackson Files to Explore Senate Bid as Graham Platner Faces Growing Calls to Exit Common Dreams ⚡️Maine Democratic Party: “Unfortunately Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us… to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic… https://t.co/l9GftNS9UU — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) July 8, 2026 Unclear where Reckoning Action, which is working with the Democratic Women’s Caucus to change House ethics rules to make it easier to come forward with claims of inappropriate behavior, gets its funding: Cheyenne Hunt, who personally connected former Platner girlfriend Jenny Racicot with journalists at POLITICO and CNN, is offering resources and support to Platner staffers who resign in solidarity with Racicot. Hunt is the executive director of Reckoning Action, a nonprofit… https://t.co/eKBMXPZVTH — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) July 8, 2026 I know I’m old-fashioned this way, but I still think due process is the best way (ie: the only reliable way) to determine guilt and the truth of accusations. Online mobs and trial by media are infinitely more unreliable for all sorts of reasons that should be obvious. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 7, 2026 Our Famously Free Press Imperial Collapse Watch Selective Service war gaming a ‘special skills’ draft Responsible Statecraft American mercenary firm expands with launch of ‘the largest shoot house on the East Coast’ All-Source Intelligence Afghan national who fought with U.S. forces died of allergic reaction in ICE custody AP Police State Watch ICE Killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on a Houston Street Today. It’s Using the Same Script It Always Uses. Migrant Insider ICE’s Internal Watchdog Is Now Investigating Online Critics Wired The Accelerationists You’re obsessing over the wrong Peter Thiel conference How to Survive the Broligarchy AI Trump Wants to Fast Track AI Inside Climate News Exclusive-US cyber agency is using Anthropic’s Mythos to audit government code, sources say Reuters Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out Wired Guillotine Watch Absolutely bananas’: San Francisco homes sell for $1m above asking price amid AI boom The Guardian ‘This world ain’t right’: A 72-year-old is swept up in SF’s flood of evictions San Francisco Standard Class Warfare What Is Capitalist Exploitation, and Why Is It Wrong? Left Notes Our outrage could redeem us Art Cullen Antidote du jour (via): See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here. “Canadian Defence Attaché Met With Azov Brigade’s Fundraising Arm” And I’m sure that at the end of it, those Azov guys & gals gave the Canadian attaché a souvenir in the form of a shoulder patch as a token of gratitude. The inclusion of a Swastika on that patch may have been a bit egregious though. the sad long history of canada and ukrainian nazis continues. the shame of the north. There was that incident where the “memorial for the victims of communism” in Ottawa where they had to literally cover up all the names on the memorial because the majority of them were of the same ilk as Mr. Hunka, as in actual Wafen SS veterans and the like. The first big attempt at rewriting history was with Mr. Hunka and while that didn’t go well at the time, but give it another decade or so (assisted by AI slop) and history will probably be successfully rewritten to everyone’s detriment. Platner is a replay of Al Franken, now with NEW! IMPROVED! rape charges……. so either indict him or keep running to November. I have not noticed any Gaza genocide charges by any DNC group vs Biden and Trump tho Thank you. If this is so serious, why has he not been arrested yet? This whole thing reeks of an organized rat**ckery campaign, even if the latest allegations are true. There were two named accusers in the NYT piece from several weeks ago. Both have just changed their stories. First there was Racicot after having met with Hunt who just started her operation two months ago(!). And after that broke a couple days ago, last night the local Maine news reported that the second named accuser, Lyndsey Fifield, who I believe is the Republican operative, is also changing her story to say that Platner removed condoms during sex against her will. https://www.wmtw.com/article/graham-platners-ex-girlfriend-alleges-he-removed-condoms-without-consent/71859581 NC readers will likely remember that this is the same story used against Julian Assange when the Epstein class needed him removed. What a coincidence! lyman alpha blob: Thanks for weighing in. I have been waiting for your ideas about the local angle. As I have commented several times here, I am highly leery of political-change-via-sex-scandal. I am thinking of Trump, who seems to have benefited from the accusations. Yet I am also thinking of the disaster of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, where it would have been better if the liberals simply had opposed him on grounds of lack of experience and lack of sound political opinions. (I am also thinking of the convenient counterexample, Clarence Thomas, whose career Biden could have nipped in the bud, but Gentleman Joe decided to betray Anita Hill instead.) I am also reminded that many of the Dems now in high dudgeon are the same ones who used to honk, “Nyuck, nyuck, Bill Clinton, impeached for a beejay, nyuck, nyuck!” On the third hand, I am also detecting a double standard. It isn’t as if women are immune from sex scandals: I’m thinking of Elizabeth Warren and her accusations (obviously false) of Bernie’s sexism. There’s also Stacey Plaskett, the Epstein Whisperer. The standard now seems to be all about penetration, not about abuse of positions and power. Who’da thunkit? (There is also a wild sex scandal in Italy involving Nicole Minetti, former procurer to Berlusconi, former member of the regional council of Lombardy, now companion and procurer for Cipriani — who have managed to drag in President Mattarella. So the idea that women are somehow going to benefit from sex scandals is extremely dodgy.) The question that is most important is: Why now, at this particular moment? And: Who benefits? And: Who’s the hypocrite? There was also this story about the campaign advisor who broke the Platners’ confidence regarding the text messages to exes, which speaks to the woman’s ethics, or lack thereof – https://paydayreport.com/graham-platner-leaker-failed-to-disclose-previous-financial-conflict-of-interests/ One wonders what the reward for her betrayal might have been. Racicot’s story seems plausible, although there are some inconsistencies. Whether that’s due to poor reporting remains to be seen. But the pile on from the Republican operative has raised my suspicions as to the veracity of any of it. Whether any of the allegations are true or not, clearly this was a months long, coordinated campaign by members of the Epstein class from both political parties. They are positively jubilant right now. I will say that if the result is Troy Jackson taking over as the nominee for the Senate seat, that might not be a bad development. He has quite a bit of political experience in the Maine state senate, is endorsed by Bernie, and seems like a very decent sort – working class logger from rural northern Maine. In the debate I watched, he wore a rumpled old navy blue suit jacket – the type my rural relatives bust out for weddings and funerals, because it’s the only one they bothered to have. And I think Bernie may have styled his hair personally. Most defintely not a Gavin Newsom type. Jackson recently ran in the primary for the governor’s race and did well, and has already announced that he’s looking into a Senate run if Platner drops out. So the knives will be out for him, too. Maine is a small state and if one takes an interest in politics, then everybody in that crowd knows somebody who knows somebody who knows something. The scuttlebutt I’ve already heard about Jackson during the Senate primary was that he was just another good old boy type because he had supposedly asked some official to take care of the equivalent of a parking or speeding ticket for a buddy of his. Yet Senators can take millions form AIPAC, turn around and do favors for the Zionist entity, and nobody in the Epstein class bats an eye about that patently obvious and morally reprehensible corruption that funds a genocide. Because all of this is of course about Platner’s opposition to the ongoing genocide by a lawless and rogue nation. First strike failed, I suppose. Not sure on the other questions. Someone on NPR mentioned Bill Clinton and his “consensual” relationship with Monica Lewinski. But we all know he did not have sex with that woman! Yes it’s disgusting what’s happening. Remember Tara reade and Biden, she was not believed. They just use these tactics when they want to. I don’t know if Platner is wrong or if he’s being dishonestly accused via social media. But I still believe innocent until proven guilty. Ironically she had to flee to Russia for political asylum as she knew that she was likely in danger. And the MeeToo women? They told her to shut up and take one for the team as they wanted old Joe in. …replay of Al Franken…, thank you for bringing that up. Team Blue has an established record of forcing progressives out. We just spent a week traveling about Maine. many, many Platner lawn signs vs almost none for Collin’s. Elephant energetics, Hannibal, descents into the Glorious Valley of the Po, and the Proto-Chocolate City. A brief diversion for you on still another day of crappy news >> I am slightly skeptical of the Col de Traversette route, leading to Pian del Re, largely because Monviso, the emblematic mountain of Piedmont, is massive, and stands slightly apart, although one can descend quickly through the upper valley of the Po. But even though the Po arises on Monviso, the article doesn’t seem to send Hannibal down the upper Po. Note that Monviso is big, bulky, conical, and functions something like Mount Fuji in the local imagination. Yet the article I implant here indicates a possible clue of “much elephant poo”: https://www.archeominosapiens.it/annibale-alpi/ Yet this route puts Hannibal south of the Proto-Chocolate City, which he famously besieged and destroyed in 218 BC. The city of the Taurini supposedly was set in what is now the Vanchiglia neighborhood (dominated by the university these days). Why would Hannibal have turned north, when he was headed toward Roma? From the upper Susa, one fairly quickly comes to vantage points that allow one to see all the way to Torino. So I’m inclined to think that the Susa Valley, which is wide and declines gradually, may have been an easier route. There would have been more to eat, too. And, as always in Italy, some mysterious missing relics may indicate the Val di Susa: iron rings, an elephant tusk, and stone markers: The Germans made off with the evidence, now wouldn’t they? In any case, feel free to speculate. I have been to the upper Susa around Sestriere (Oulx, specifically). Lovely country. Re: Trump birthright citizenship push poses headaches for divided GOP You really have to hand it to them. They’re going to piss away what few legislative days they have left before late September, when they will no doubt run for the bus home to campaign for the midterms. None of the proposals have any chance of passing, especially a constitutional amendment, which is really the only legal way to change the Supreme Court’s ruling. Meanwhile, the ME burns, gas prices are headed back up, and the voters are gonna drop a bomb on the GOP like the Gap Band dropped a bomb on all of us in 1983. Where is that whistling noise? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lkdqoLt44&list=RD17lkdqoLt44 “Trump Revives Greenland Push, Citing Chinese and Russian Arctic Activity” If Trump really wants it, he can offer to buy it. But that would mean the US giving money to Denmark and Greenland itself which would be anathema to him. He wants to be given it for free or maybe a token billion dollars or so – provided that money was used to buy US goods. But he knows that there is untold wealth on that island. He goes on about Chinese and Russian ships surrounding Greenland but there hasn’t been a Chinese ship in those waters for about twenty year. Most likely this is a negotiation threat. Give me Greenland or else I will pull the US military out of Europe. For the Eu elites that is a mortal threat but for people living near those bases, that would be cool if they left. Ian Welsh: “How most US jobs won’t support an American lifestyle” https://www.ianwelsh.net/most-us-jobs-wont-support-an-american-lifestyle/ Thanks for the Art Cullen link. Iowa is a moderate GOP state. Elects both Dems and GOP to Congress. Tends to elect the GOP to the Gov office and Statehouse. This link about the rising anger toward Big Ag and political corruption in Iowa is a good sign, imo. (Also, his written style reminds me of Donald Kaul in Kaul’s best days at the DesMoines Register. / ;) “Mormon crickets flood Idaho, sheriff’s office reminds public to contact pest control, not police” I don’t suppose that people have considered throwing them on a barbie by any chance? ‘In fact, in a cave in Wyoming, archaeologists discovered the cooked remains of several hundred Mormon crickets on a roasting pit dating back more than 2,000 years.’ https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/mormon-cricket/ Maybe flavoured with honey and you are good to go. Re; AI Not exactly good optics: Microsoft plans to take up 100 percent of a revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to fuel its AI data center ambitions. The Unit 1 reactor was not impacted by the infamous Three Mile Island accident, when Unit 2 suffered a partial nuclear meltdown in the worst nuclear power accident in US history back in 1979. That site is still being decommissioned by owner Energy Solutions. “Before it was prematurely shuttered due to poor economics, this plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid, and we look forward to bringing it back with a new name and a renewed mission to serve as an economic engine for Pennsylvania.” I can imagine locals aren’t exactly thrilled with this, especially those who witnessed the ’79 near-disaster. “White House Connected Laura Loomer Wants American Journalist Striped Of Citizenship And Raided By The FBI For Reporting In Iran. ” It takes having Trump as President for person like Laura Loomer to have such an influence. I think that she is crazy and when the Feds raided that factory with those South Koreans, she assured everybody that there were secret graves their onsite. And now she is flipping out about Blumenthal doing real journalism. Max Blumenthal is a Boston boy and happens to be Jewish as well. The government just can’t strip you of your natural born citizenship like Loomer is implying. He can be raided by the FBI for the crime of actual journalism and can be given the Scott Ritter treatment but that is about it. For Loomer, it is kinda sad to have hate rule her life like this. – ‘You’re obsessing over the wrong Peter Thiel conference’ – How to Survive the Broligarchy This was an interesting piece for several reasons. For one thing, it was informative, as it describes some very important MIC (or MICIMATT) networks whose members play an important role in funding, directing, and organizing the Bilderberg Conference. As the author, Carole Cadwalladr, notes, this Conference gathers some of the most powerful people in the world yet gets almost no media coverage. Reporting on such organizations and their activities is a crucial task of real investigative journalism – an activity which is rapidly becoming extinct among major media outlets today. On the other hand, the one-sidedness of this piece stood out like a sore thumb to me. There are factions among the “Global Elite.” They may be a “big club” that we aren’t in, but among the elite there are competing interests and ideological differences: “liberals” vs. “conservatives,” “neocons” vs. “internationalists,” etc. Cadwalladr does a good job describing a prominent right-wing techno-feudal branch of the Oligarchy. But she leaves out what I’d call the “liberal” side. This is indicated with a few tells here. For example, she seems mystified that Stacey Abrams is a Director of the American Friends of Bilderberg. That is because Abrams comes from the “liberal” side of the club which is ignored here. Cadwalladr mentions several government officials who have attended that fit her narrative. But she leaves out many others. I always thought the fact that Bill Clinton was invited right before he became President, and Barak Obama was invited right before HE became President, was interesting. But maybe that’s just me. Cadwalladr is right to criticize the silence of the press on this organization while some important media elites are participating in Conference meetings with top business, national security, and intelligence leaders. But I find this somewhat ironic coming from Cadwalladr, given her own willingness in the past to be used by British intelligence to disseminate anti-Russian propaganda. I’m sure she doesn’t see herself doing this; as “an acquaintance and fan” of Anne Applebaum she probably believes she is only reporting the facts on Russia, Ukraine, or Putin. This is because Cadwalladr reflects the worldview of the “liberal,” Atlanticist side of the Anglo-American Establishment (liberals seem to love the neocon Applebaum). Their role in Bilderberg does not appear here. Apparently it is only the right-wing techno-fascists like Peter Thiel and his bros that carry out “conspiracies” at Bilderberg. So where does Bono fit in here? Unclear where Reckoning Action gets its funding? Not to worry. Believe women! The founder’s about us bio has this bit about legal work: “Working from a group chat with two other women, she helped force a sitting seven-term congressman out of a gubernatorial frontrunner position and his congressional s eat in eleven days.” Monaco Bombing Suspect Murdered by Military Intelligence Officer, Ukrainian Authorities Say. Oh my! The report from RT yesterday said there were multiple gunshots to the head. If the FBI investigates this for Ukraine I’m sure they will decide it was suicide. I guess that she Found Out.