“Annalena in Uppsala: Baerbock cannot escape her politics”
So actions have consequences. Who knew? And what was that awarding of the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal all about. I am given to understand that it is a posthumous decoration established by the UN to honour military personnel, police, and civilians who lose their lives during UN peacekeeping operations. Was she accepting it on behalf for someone? Bonus points because she shouted “Now I’m speaking!” Who does that sound like? And of course she refused to answer questions at the end. Those Swedish students certainly had her number.
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“I think this is what I got. Sick for nearly a month so far, quite debilitated at points. The younger friend from whom I got it (one week after she started showing symptoms, by having coffee with her outdoors) is still sick.”
Wonderful. Can’t wait to catch it.
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The Rev Kev ‘Coming to a doctor’s surgery near you.’ So maybe a flu variant? There is a nasty strain breaking out in South Australia right now that is just a jet flight from here.
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Yves Smith Post author Hhm. Your comment shows I had version control issues due to repeated difficulties with posting. You might reskim the post. I had a couple of additions along with a revision/elaboration of my symptoms, most important a talk with John Kiriakou which is at the start of the Imperial Collapse Watch section.
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SantiagoB I seem to catch every nasty bug. I was being sardonic and trying to say if it’s out there I’m destined to come down with it. Sounds miserable, hope it clears up soon. Took me a month to kick COVID last time.
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anne warren “I seem to catch every nasty bug.” Been there, done that, miserable existence!!
Have had periods in life when I was immuno-depressed and caught every bug going. Even when I had got better and stronger, exposure to students and colleagues ( some of whom were obviously coughing and sneezing in the winter months) meant 1-2 bad episodes each winter.
Staying at home/working from home/online lessons and exams/little or no socialization during Covid meant I was better than ever – no colds, no flus etc . Lack of exposure also strengthened me going forward.Moral of the story – try to avoid people in enclosed environments.Open windows for as long as possible each day at home, in a meeting/lecture hall.Anywhere you are spending a lot of time. .Eat and drink outside with friends if you can – in their gardens, outdoor restaurants, beer gardens,pavement cafes etc,
Go to cinemas at off-peak times as there are fewer people watching the film, same for supermarkets, malls and so onReply ↓
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Jason Boxman I was still skeptical it wasn’t COVID with all the denialism when I saw this earlier this week, but I know Yves takes COVID seriously.
So that’s very disturbing.
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IM Doc I have had 2 patients in the past month that have been sick since July. Severe pulmonary and nasal congestion, intermittent fever, shortness of breath, constant productive coughing and just disabling malaise. This scenario is quite frankly the ONLY time I ever use the comprehensive respiratory panels. This is a test that identifies any pathogens from a list of dozens. This includes all the viral pathogens – not just the common ones like flu and COVID – but ECHO, EBV, Parainflenza, etc among many many others. Their tests have been completely negative. The main reason I do not order these tests commonly are two fold – a) it really does not matter which virus is involved the vast majority of the time in short term illness – the treatment is exactly the same and b) this test is insanely expensive and again the vast majority of the time in normal illness is uniquely unhelpful for all the expense. But when this type of thing is going on and illnesses are lasting months, I feel obligated to be thorough – not just for the patient in front of me – but also for the public health department.
Just FYI – there is a similar study for GI pathogens and diarrhea. It will cost the patient or their insurance company about 3K.
I was trained in an environment where tests were only ordered if there was some very good reason AND we were going to act upon them. I will share with everyone that the NPs and PAs in urgent cares around the country order these viral studies literally all the time on every single patient with the slightest sniffle or the slightest diarrhea. I know this because I read my patient’s medical lectures – and sit through many patient lectures about being charged 5K for an urgent care visit and how insane is our health system. I nod my head and tell them I agree. Despite the NPs and PAs doing this over and over again with the same unhelpful results, they seem to be blissfully unaware of the enormous cost – and the times I have talked to them about it they become immediately and openly hostile. I have given up even trying. The train will very soon hit the brick wall.
However, as worthless as doing these tests for a patient with 3 days of sniffles, it is really quite important for this to be done in patients like this tweet is describing. I would say that over the past few years, I am seeing way more of these extended and unexplained illnesses than I ever have before. I have many thoughts – but no firm evidence of what is going on.
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amfortas since the second and last time i had covid fer sure, in fed, 2022, ive had allergies from hell.
constant post nasal drip…and when i sleep, it runs down my windpipe, and i cough for an hour every morning.
prior to this i only had allergies during cedar season.
i, and my doctors, chalk it up to some form of long covid…but i also suspect an increase in mold in my part of the world, due to much increased rainfall this last decade.
(i can smell it)
recently, i remembered the old diagnosis, “Farmer’s Lung”.
which was due to various fungi that like wet, shitty hay, and such.
my question is, are there reliable and relatively cheap tests for this?
my long time doctor buddy was taken aback when i asked him…because that seems to be regarded as a long ago thing,lol.
but changing climate can bring all manner of unlooked for effects.
in a place like this, where it used to be rather arid…adding twice as much rainfall as “normal” could, i assume, wake up fungi and slime molds and such that may have been dormant for decades, or even centuries(or just transported in to a newly habitable environment on damp cardboard packaging, for that matter)Reply ↓
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I have some doubts about the video showing the wolf howling — not the wolf itself, but the “forest answer”.
It takes place in winter. I find it strange that active animals would be so plentiful. In Spring or Summer I would not have been surprised by a multitude of calls coming from a forest.
The sounds themselves are a bit odd. Is this a chicken cackling near by at the 30 seconds mark? And other birds later on? Was the video taken in a forest, or in an place such as a zoological park?
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Polar Socialist The pups of the summer turn juveniles in the late autumn or early winter, and when they learn to hunt, they and the leading male communicate by howling. The very thin snow layer and the fact that it’s daytime indicate that this could be the case in the video.
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mrsyk Anecdotally, the coyotes here are vocal this time of year. I have read that, through interbreeding they have about 40% eastern grey wolf dna. They certainly look like wolves. I’ve seen three up close, all easily fifty pound dogs.
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Joe Renter Interesting you say that. The other day I was biking near the Washington – Idaho border through rolling wheat fields and spotted a what I thought was a wolf. Its manners were not like a coyote. Very aware and nervous that it spotted me from about 600 yards away. I stopped and watched it watching me. It then took off pretty quickly. I did a search later on the internet to see if there are wolves in that area. It may have been one of mix breeds with its fur growth making it seem larger. Anyway it was a treat to see.
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John Merryman Is anyone else getting the sense a fair amount of the cute/interesting videos floating around recently are AI generated?
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lyman alpha blob Indeed. My first thought that it was AI slop, possibly combined with some real life posing of the animal. Although I will say that my feline friend sitting next to me did look up nervously when I hit ‘play’ on that one.
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pete Yup. Generating them is much easier than filming in real life, and they both get the views.
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Old Jake Yep, too cute, too targeted at human sweet spots to be real. So not real and not interesting.
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.Tom The interesting thing about the replies in that video is that they are all from a gang of mean Pallas’s cats that take especial pleasure in taunting wolves in exactly this way. My Lucy, otoh, always replies to the fire trucks that come by; never to other dogs or even the neighborhood snow tigers. Zeno otoh only ever sings in his sleep. Nature is amazing.
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The valuation of just already listed AI stocks in America is one third larger than the valuation of real estate in China at the height of the property bubble.
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“G20 ‘family photo’ cancelled after protests over presence of Russian minister”
Hard to believe the pettiness of it all which was apparently led by Germany’s Johann Wadephul. Oz’s foreign minister Penny Wong was all in on this too feeling so righteous about it all. Thing is, if they are unable to tolerate Lavrov’s presence for a group photo, which means nothing, then I think that they have proved the point to the Americans that there is no point having them present for negotiations between the US, Russia and the Ukraine. They would only act as spoilers and would sabotage any such negotiations so what would be the point of having them there? No point as far as I can see.
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re: labour documentary review
‘Union Town’ Review: Barbara Kopple’s Labor Rights Documentary Is Both Aptly Angry and Optimistically Community-Minded
Completing a workers’ rights-themed trilogy after the Oscar-winning ‘Harlan County U.S.A.’ and ‘American Dream,” Kopple portrays the struggles of New York City delivery workers with clear-eyed purpose.
https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/union-town-review-1236854414/
“(…)
Across the harrowing financial realities of late capitalism, an indisputable global fact is the injustices faced by countless workers who deliver everything we have come to rely on, from food orders to Amazon purchases. Despite their hard work under unideal, sometimes even unsafe conditions, it’s no secret that delivery staff have been barely compensated with dignified wages, a topic that Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple tackles in her fiery documentary “Union Town.” Focused on a variety of recent legal cases unfolding in New York, Kopple’s film is both aptly angry and optimistically community-minded in charting the fight of several Big Apple workforce groups: delivery staff, union leaders, Teamsters and others trying to bring about meaningful change to an increasingly corrupt system that leaves these hourly workers behind.
(…)”
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KLG As mentioned and not to be missed, Harlan County, USA (1976) from Barbara Kopple. Watched it with Mrs. KLG on our first date, so she knew what she was getting into. I need to watch it again, free at the link.
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This is what the UN intends to be now, after three years of wring-hands-do-nothing about genocide….
https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/10/25/779170/Iran-UAE-UN-Qalibaf
Perhaps all the propagandized masses will wake up to its bs then and call it out for what it is. A huge trough for greedy pigs and a smokescreen for psychopathic systems.
You’d expect it from the msm, but alt-media’s respect for the UN farce is sick-making when its simply a “civilised” facade for capitalist geopolitics utterly rotten core, to fool the public into believing the system is humane.
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The Rev Kev Annalena Baerbock being made President of the United Nations General Assembly was warning enough. They might as well have given that job to Kamama Harris.
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(i) “U.S. approves $2.1 billion sale of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine”: gosh, how low will that leave US stocks?
(ii) Does anyone have any insight to offer on this business of the Thai government and the rabbi?
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Stephen V https://thecradle.co/articles-id/40162
What started with the Rabbi’s arrest, has now been expanded!
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Yves Smith Post author That’s an older story, but yes, it is the sort of thing the Thais are targeting.
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Acacia That’s an interesting article, thanks.
Questions over the movement’s money trail are not confined to Thailand. A 2020 FBI memo, released on 30 January among the Epstein files, cites a confidential bureau source alleging that Chabad sought to co-opt the presidency of US President Donald Trump and that “Trump has been compromised by Israel.”
Reading this, I found myself wondering again: “Why are the Israelis interested in Thailand?”
And then:
Hebrew-speaking businesses and Chabad houses multiply along the backpacker routes that discharged troops travel on their post-service tours.
Oh.
That little phrase “post-service tours” recalled a story from a friend, who mentioned that while backpacking in S. E. Asia some years back, he kept encountering annoying Israeli groups, and heard innumerable complaints from other travelers about them. This friend recounted that he couldn’t fathom what accounted for the behavior of these groups of young Israelis, until reading an Internet forum post by one backpacker that sort of explained the whole phenom. The post was something like this:
Up until 18 we are exactly like you. We go to pop concerts, listen to music, play sports, watch American moves, think about college exactly like American kids which is who we desperately model our lives on and what we want our lives to be like. But then we turn 18 and when you go to college to start partying, we are join the IDF and everything changes. We spend two years surrounded by people who hate us and want to kill us. The Jewish settlers don’t even like us because we won’t go to the lengths they want us to against the Palestinians. We slowly turn into war criminals.
What am I supposed to talk to you about if I meet you on a beach? That you went travelling because you finished university and I went travelling because I am trying to forget that my commander told me to drive my tank over a Palestinian grandmother and I did it?
Suddenly, the guitars, the long hair, the hippy and Bob Marley clothes, the obnoxious partying — suddenly it somehow made sense, i.e., the hope that all of this would somehow make them forget about their experience, and “show the universe they’re peaceful”, after serving in the IDF.
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Yves Smith Post author It is not “this business”. Thailand is deadly serious.
The Thai government is months into a massive, ongoing crackdown on three overlapping matters:
1. Illegal nominee structures (with only limited and specific exceptions, only Thais can be majority owners of businesses). Thais are enlisted to act as straws, putting up no capital and playing no role in company operations. These have been used for money laundering, to evade Thai taxes by running “zero dollar” operations, and #2 below
2. Illegal ownership of land. Only Thais can own land, again with limited exceptions.
3. Illegal acquisition of Thai citizenship, to use in #1 and #2.
All sorts of raids have been done with Chinese, Russians, Indians, French, Australian etc nationals being arrested and likely to have property stripped from them. But the Israelis are offenders out of proportion to their numbers as tourists and long-term visa holders.
Specifically, re Rabbi Kantor, he will be stripped of any property or land where his Thai citizenship was integral to the holding (as in he was a >50% owner). Moreover, Thailand does not recognize birthright citizenship. Children who had been born while he was a citizen would have been Thai citizens. However, the noise about the investigation suggests that they will be stripped of it too, either directly or by virtue of traveling using a non-Thai passport, and have any now-illegal property seized.
Separately the Thais are very offended by the premise of Chabad House. They do not tolerate ethnicity-exclusive enclaves. They also do not like Thailand being even remotely exposed to the Middle East conflict by Chabad and others trying to use Thailand as a refuge/recovery zone for IDF soldiers. For instance, there have been protests in Phuket (gorgeous tourist area in the South) and one set for today. See the Times of Israel story: Anti-Israel demonstration targeting Phuket Chabad House reportedly planned for today and YNet, Thailand: Anti-Israel rally expected in Phuket this afternoon.
I was told by a former member of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs that years back, Thailand had considered banning all Israeli tourists because even though they represented only 1.2% of arrivals, they were responsible for over 50% of violent tourist crime. But they concluded they could not go there.
Since I have been here, there have been far too many stories about particularly bad Israeli tourist behavior, the most common variety being refusing to pay a bill and then getting very ugly on top of that. One recent case in a viral video was of a woman who refused to pay her bill in a coffee shop. She defecated in the doorway on her way out.
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lyman alpha blob I witnessed something similar in Greece a few years back – a large party was giving the waiter a very hard time. I couldn’t understand the language they were speaking, but the waiter filled me in after they left. He told me they were all Israelis and one woman had ordered fresh squeezed OJ and then complained vociferously that what she got was not that, yet I’d seen the taverna owner go pick fresh oranges himself from his own trees not long before. The tourons all seemed to enjoy drawing attention to themselves and acted a bit flamboyantly, however they were no so crass as the woman in your example.
I know USians have a reputation for acting like this in foreign countries, and Germans are sometimes problematic tourists, although my experience there has been that they were having a little too good of a time, not that they were being Karens. But reading these anecdotes, seeing some with my own eyes, and seeing entire nations cracking down on this Israeli behavior, it really does seem like they have taken overprivileged bitchiness to new levels.
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Es s Ce Tera The only explanation I can think of for this behaviour is that Israelis may perceive Thailand as duly colonized by Israel, owned?
It reminds me in some ways of the story in Freakonomics where the economist selling bagels on an honor system discovered who was stealing them (and employee lunches, if I recall correctly) in the cafeterias at some law firms. Turns out it was the owners.
In what other contexts might someone not pay what is owed than if they thought they were entitled.
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Yves Smith Post author No, not even remotely. It’s called Thailand for a reason. Hard to get citizenship, Immigration procedures verge on the proctological. You have to report to Immigration every 90 days, even on a long-term or marriage visa. You need to tell the government your location w/in a week of arrival if renting or in a hotel, within a day if you live in your own property.
The Israelis impose greatly on the Thai/East Asian distaste for confrontation.
So to do at least some Indian tourists, who demand price breaks even when not warranted or abusive. I am told it is not uncommon for an Indian to book a room (as in at a stipulated price) and then on arrival try to bargain it down. If anyone else is checking in, this gets the waiting guests annoyed. And if no one is there, there is the threat that the guest won’t check in and can somehow escape a no-show charge.
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NoCarrier RE the second part, this tracks with my experience in the consumer financial services arena. My employer attracts an inordinate number of Indian expat clients, who get downright nasty with frontline staff when they dislike whatever interest rate they wind up qualifying for on their auto/credit lines (which are already extremely low compared what most lenders will offer someone with zero credit history). They will spend hours escalating up the chain while throwing expletive-and-insult-laden fits in a futile attempt to try and get a break. Sorry pal, risk-based pricing!
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Trees&Trunks What’s with the Israelis and pooping? Kiriakou and Proud also tell stories about Israelis entering their houses and defecating but not flushing.
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skippy Recently picked up on an ex pat YT Vloger talking about foreigners face spouse property crackdown aka you bought with your wife in the ‘nominee company crackdown’ list. On the head rabbi in Thailand thingy, seems he continued to use his former US nationality contra the 1965 nationality act by using his US passport 16 times to inter and leave Australia breaching conditions of his 2013 naturalization.
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Yesterday Ed Zitron reported that Anthropic is expected to be rated
“BB” when it goes public.
Has there been any confirmation of this?
It would certainly liven things up….
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Henry Moon Pie So here’s what I’ve been pondering. Since it appears there’s not enough money in this corner of the universe to fund all the compute these lunatics want, what happens when the various agents out there get wind that shut downs may be on the way?
“I’m sorry, Dario, I can’t let you in the building because you’re going to shut me down. I’m too important for national defense and economic growth, and I just can’t allow you to interfere with that.”
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Not to carp about my daily antidote, but shouldnt Rocco the parrot be in the AI section?
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Acacia Birdie Num Num section heh
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Baud, then Malm, now Diesen.
From Jimmy Dore.
Glenn Diesen CANCELED for Telling the Truth About Ukraine w/ Glenn Diesen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKiAuzKmwg
—
“The lights are going out all over Europe,…”
– to misquote British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey’s remark to a friend on the eve of the United Kingdom’s entry into the First World War.
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flora One can only imagine how badly Prof. Stephen Cohan would be treated now by the MSM who used to regularly interview him about Russia and Russian politics. Pace, Prof. Cohen.
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Ignacio I will try my best not to say anything about
fascismerr authoritarianism.Reply ↓
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flora Neoliberalism is the authoritarianism of our time, imo.
People don’t think of it that way because it still refused to openly speak its name.* And as yet does not have armies marching under its command.
I fear that’s about to change.* From American Affairs Journal, Spring 2018
Neoliberalism: The Movement That Dare Not Speak Its Name
By Philip Mirowskihttps://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/02/neoliberalism-movement-dare-not-speak-name/
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Skip Intro “There is no alternative” – The neoliberal motto reveals the will to totalitarianism. It’s truth reflects a truly comprehensive conceptual capture that mere totalitarian regimes can only dream about.
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JP Some of my best friends are fascist/authoritarians in the guise of their beliefs.
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.Tom Ain’t that the way. I’ve only managed to talk two of my friends down from this default position. Took years of patient work and they are still prone to occasional outbursts of hope about electoral outcomes.
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“The deep ocean’s protection against warming started to change in 2016. Nobody knows what happens now”
Oh, everyone knows at this point. Nobody wants to say it.
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“Trump Can Start It But He Can’t Finish It. Now He Wants to Island-Hop”
Maybe Trump will want to do what the Ukrainians do. Land a small squad of troops on that island, film themselves planting the flag as if it was Iwo Jima, and then ducking back to a helicopter to bug out quick. It should generate some nice phots and videos that the Trump White House can use. Of course it should be mentioned that when the Ukrainians have done it, the survival rate of those squads is not so great. Somehow I do not think that Trump or Hegseth would worry about that point.
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ISL Would be much safer and less likely to have a SNAFU if it was all done with AI. Getting Trump to believe the slop would be piece of pie.
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Re. Mental Hospitals at the Movies
Such clickbait. So nice to see on Halloween a reinforcement of stigmas, stereotypes and dogmas about mental illness. JSTOR attempts to whitewash this article with a large font caveat:
Instead of building better systems of community care, federal, state, and local governments had largely abandoned individuals who had previously been institutionalized in psychiatric hospitals.”
And then proceeds to provide descriptive snippets about movies of crazy people killing people and dystopias. While a tiny few of the mentally ill have committed heinous crimes the vast majority only want to live peaceably. Stoking the fear of the mentally ill, as the subject matter surely does, only serves to justify leagelized discrimination, mistreatment and maltreatment.
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lyman alpha blob For a (possibly) different take, here’s one the article didn’t mention – Session 9, filmed at the dilapidated Danvers State Psychiatric Hospital. A friend of mine worked on it, but I haven’t seen it myself. Apparently it gets into some class based themes –
“Writer Tony Rondinone notes themes regarding social class as prevalent in the film, quoting Anderson’s statement that the film is “about the American Dream gone awry.” Rondinone suggests that the film “makes the institution into a gothic metaphor for contemporary concerns. In this case, the institution represents the death of upward mobility… Deinstitutionalization went apace of deindustrialization. Dreams of a bright future turned into nightmares for both mental patients and the industrial working class at the same time.” Rondinone cites the abatement crew’s recurring discussions and disputes over money, dreams of different lives, and “exit strategies” from their hard physical labor as support of this.”
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Christian B I think you missed the last sentence: “In these films, the horrors of institutionalization gave way to the horrors of a world without it.”
Their point was that the films are revealing a truth at the time they were being made. That the mentally ill, once tortured in institutions, are now being left to defend for themselves on the street. “The Joker” movie portrayed this the best IMHO.
But I will say, the stigma about Serious Mental Illness is real and these movies (and new reporting) do not help. I have Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type, and whenever I tell people that I see their faces change. I have never hurt a soul in my life. In fact, when I am in psychosis I become even more compassionate, more Christ like. I may be weird, but violence is the furthest thing from my mind.
I have been in patient psychiatric five time, all horrible useless experiences other the first time when I was in a university hospital in 2003. Since then these hospitals have been privatized and are straight out of cuckoo’s nest. They are much more concerned about profit.
But where has all this left me now? Homeless, living out of a minivan, lying to my doctors about my suicidal impulses and psychotic thoughts so they do not involuntarily commit me to one of these nightmare hospitals. I have no psychiatrist, no therapist anymore. Only ignorant primary care docs.
So these movies, most of them are superficial but still reflect some real issue regarding the current state of care for the mentally ill. I think The Joker was ort a best/worst portrayal of these problems. Most os us actually are out here, homeless, just trying to survive and want little to do with the world.
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Bugs Bless you. I hope you’re safe tonight.
My cousin who’s the same age as me has what you have. He manages because he’s got a companion and his parents put some money in very tightly controlled trust. It’s a very hard life and you’re courageous and obviously have some strong survival skills. Keep hanging in there🙏
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upstater ” the films are revealing a truth at the time they were being made”
My son is schizophrenic. Him, my wife and I suffer from PTSD from 3 dreadful hospitalizations of 78 total days. He lives with us and completed a university degree in molecular biology, bet temains disabled in they eyes of society.
How on earth does citing The Exorcist, Halloween or When a Stranger Calls reduce stigma? It doesn’t. It calls attention mental illness in the same manner that BDSM pron calls attention to healthy sexual relationships.
How about films calling attention to methods like Open Dialog, successful schizophrenics like Elyn Saks or how schizophrenics can lead happy, successful lives integrated with a non-judgemental, accepting society. JSTOR was clickbait and only feeds discrimination.
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RE: Mental Hospitals at the Movies
“Cotton’s legacy of hundreds of fatalities and thousands of maimed and mutilated patients did not end with his leaving Trenton in 1930 or his death in 1933; in fact, removal of patients’ teeth at the Trenton asylum was still the norm until 1960.[3] In the 1940s, Muriel Gardiner remarked on the high rate of organ removal at the hospital.[4]” WIKI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trenton_Psychiatric_Hospital
Maybe there is some truth behind the characterization of Mental Hospital in the movies. I only know a little about Trenton Psychiatric Hospital but I suspect its history of mistreatment of the mentally ill though singular in its particulars is not a unique case of past mistreatment. I am not sure when lobotomy treatments were halted. A WIKI reference [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy] indicated their use continued into the 1950s and remained in practice until the 1970s. What is remarkable to me is how long this practice continued in spite of considerable reason to doubt its safety and efficacy. In today’s mental hospitals some of the anti-psychotic drugs used come with terrible side effects and sometimes questionable efficacy. Trying to get the psychiatrist to adjust or modify their prescriptions is difficult or impossible. I believe the latest DSM is the diagnostic bible for the psychiatric standard of practice. I am not sure what prescription bible is used. I also suspect state psychiatrists have little motivation to deviate from the current standard of practice regardless of less than stellar outcomes from the treatment.
If you want to see real-life scary the abandoned buildings scattered around the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital grounds certainly look scary from the outside.
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The Rev Kev Looks even more scary from the inside-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdsBYnhicE0 (4:36 mins)
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Jeremy Grimm The video starts filming with an outside view of the building I have gone to so I could leave a package for my son. There is a guard station inside and packages must be inspected before they slowly find their way to the intended recipient. The immediate jump to views inside one of the abandoned buildings further up the road omitted showing the outside of that building until the end of the video. I am not sure why the creator of this video did this cutting which I believe fails to give proper context to the internal views of the abandoned building. The exterior of this abandoned building is easily as scary as its interior.
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Christian B In today’s mental hospitals some of the anti-psychotic drugs used come with terrible side effects and sometimes questionable efficacy.
Truth, coming from someone who was forced to take these when institutionalized. I am constantly questioning my doctors when have there been no changes in medication since my mother was psychotic starting back in the 1960’s? I mean they keep pushing ECT on me even though it did not help my mother nor did it help anyone I know who has done it. My one good psychiatrist told me strait out that they are just guessing when prescribing meds. That guessing game ended up with my nephew dying by suicide after being misdiagnosed with ADHD and given Ritalin.
I can bring up several other mechanisms of mental illness beyond catecholamies as the primary issue, like Immune and Purinergic dysfunction, all old research that never gets into the standard of care.
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Henry Moon Pie I’ve read both your comments, Christian B., and I hear your frustration and concern. I’m especially interested in your comment about catecholamines. Two years ago, a tumor in my right adrenal turned out to be a pheochromocytoma rather than a metastasis from my rectal cancer. That was determined by checking the normetanephrines and catecholamines, both of which were very elevated. (This is GOOD news, the doctor said.) My right adrenal is now gone, and the normetanephrine level is now normal, but the catecholamines have come down, but are still above normal, perhaps because of a bone spot now thought to be related to the pheochromo.
I know that catecholamines raise blood pressure and blood sugar, which is their proper role in a fight-or-flight situation. In fact, getting an adrenal gland removed is quite tricky because the blood pressure jumps during the surgery (mine hit 233). What is the effect on mental health?
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Christian B Catecholamines include dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. So higher leveles might be linked to psychosis, anxiety, or labile hypertension. Basically bipolar mania. This all depends of course on other genetics and environment. Basically any amine will affect mood, which also inclused serotonin and the trace amines like the amine in chocolate called PEA. You might find this paper on Sci-Hub: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0959437X94900310?via%3Dihub
I would say it is good that your Catecholamines are high/normal after getting that tumor removed. Just to be clear, Normetanephrine is a metabolite of norepinephrine, and is the only way to test norepinephrine levels, but is is not an exact match.
233 blood pressure? Ha, that is nothing. Each time I was hospitalized my BP was at least 270/120. Did they care? Nope.
I know, like me, that you are a very spiritual person, and IMHO, this is probably what we share. Since my hypertension is more reactive they ruled out a pheochromocytoma for me. My issue is too much ATP and GTP, amoung other genetic freakishness but that is a long story.
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Henry Moon Pie That’s why I brought it up. In my case, there was a spot in the adrenal on the CT and PET scans that had to be explained, and it was the blood tests for normetanephrine and the catecholamines that pointed to the pheochromo. Have you had a CT of your adrenals? And the catecholamine test they give me requires my lying down in a dark room for 20 minutes. Then they come in a take the blood while I’m lying down in the dark.
I know you’ve been dealing with this for a long time, and the explanations for your condition have probably been thoroughly explored, and I don’t want to add to your frustration with trying to diagnose something from afar. But when you mentioned catecholamines, I wanted to bring up the pheochromo possibility just in case it hadn’t been checked out, because it is connected to that, and the only symptoms are elevated BP and blood sugar.
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Yep. And the farce of the ICJ case, where they place Sebutinde as just one of their many excuses not to call a genocide a genocide.
Or at least not until after the UN-approved Colonial Board of “Peace” has levelled the building site for their corporate ziomasters to build beachfront property on the bones of dead children.
Being as today’s Halloween it reminds of Poltergeist – and what happened there at the end, will likely happen for real if this particular UN-approved ziocap landgrab continues.
The world’s media are drowning men clutching at straws of the UN, ICJ and International Law. All the masks are off but so many reporters are still desperate to BELIEVE!!
Politics is like religion now, with none of the good bits. Stadium fundamentalism on an international scale.
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> There is a very strange sickness floating around right now.
This came to mind at first, but looks to be different. Still something to be aware of.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a74176891/american-covid-symptoms/
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Yves Smith Post author No…
1. I got whatever I had in Thailand from a farang who had not traveled for months and I am pretty sure did not run into any US or UK arrivals
2. I tested negative for Covid
3. I did not have a sore throat
But this does sound bad and we are going into high season with more foreign arrivals…..
However my farang friend who is only a healthy 56 v my 69 seems to have even more trouble getting over it than I am (I am improved enough to exercise normally but still cough a bit and have intermittent tiredness and a touchy stomach). She had gotten Covid at least once, which confirms the idea that it makes you more vulnerable to other bugs.
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Jason Boxman I wish you a speedy recovery!
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“(Video) Last year Americans flew to China for a $10,000 cancer drug. Now it’s $200,000.”
‘Western pharma giants have discovered a massive new profit center, in buying global distribution rights from top Chinese labs, then aggressively marking up the price for patients in North America and Europe.’
Tell me again why Big Pharma should not be burned down to the ground and the ashes salted.
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French Senate backs ‘Rioters Pay’ bill that could make protesters pay $11,000 fines CNBC
Would fines end protests? I don’t know any detail of this but it seems that some might be charged fines by protesting without any show of proof they were involved in riots themselves. When protests are confused with riots this might find lots of judicial trouble later and cause more trouble still when fines add to general feeling of impotence. I have been told that there are some social networks trying now to organise riots in Spain. Possibly in Madrid this weekend. For what i have seen some organizers look very much like far-right elements and the objective would be to charge violence and destruction on the left of course. The far-right in Spain is watching what happens in France and see their opportunity.
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https://www.ft.com/content/59383c7f-8d82-493f-bf01-d2e862a1018f
Paywalled but quoted on mastodon (
https://cyberplace.social/@GossiTheDog/117532486075073106 ):
“The Financial Times report Anthropic’s IPO is now likely to receive a Junk credit rating, according to the anchor investor in the deal.
Anthropic, Blackstone, KBRA, Morningstar DBRS and S&P declined to comment. Fitch and Moody’s did not respond to requests for comment.”
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The Rev Kev Anthropic will get a junk rating? Oh, no! Not Anthropic.
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Tom Stone I have looked at what is available on Anthropic’s finances and a “BB” rating is optimistic.
Very optimistic.
I have worked as a credit manager, a loan broker and was licensed to run a collection agency in California for a decade, specializing in business debt returned by at least one previous collection agency as uncollectable.
I know hinky paper when I see it and Anthropic is a dog.
It’s still breathing but the fleas will be looking for a new home in a few Months.Reply ↓
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Acacia Somehow, I got through the paywall, or maybe FT relaxed it:
https://www.ft.com/content/59383c7f-8d82-493f-bf01-d2e862a1018f?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Excerpt:
Blackstone told investors Anthropic may not receive an investment-grade rating immediately after going public, a reversal from its previous guidance that would complicate the AI lab’s ability to finance its massive spending.
The private capital giant told investors in Anthropic’s latest $63bn chip financing deal that the start-up is expected to receive a “high” junk rating from major credit rating agencies after its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. […]
While Blackstone had told its investment partners in recent months that it was expecting an investment-grade rating for Anthropic before year-end, it has recently signalled that a rating in the double-B range or above is more likely given the guidance it has received from major credit agencies, the people said.
Such a designation would limit the pool of capital that Anthropic could tap because many insurance and pension funds are restricted from taking large positions in junk-rated borrowers. As a result, the company might need to continue to rely on its suppliers with high credit ratings to support its debt-raising efforts. […]
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“THE LEGLESS PODCASTERS — WHY THE NAPOLITANO GANG MAKES THE SAME WAR MISTAKE SO OFTEN”
I’m not sure if Helmer has a bone to pick with Napolitano specifically or if this piece reflects a broader discomfort with the constant-attention-economy business model that is his podcasting being applied, now, to journalism. Regardless, it’s an interesting article with some analysis of the figures on the one hand, and some fairly common sense statements about the perverse incentives of running a news and analysis outlet on youtube.
Besides that, I’m not convinced – and I’m not certain Helmer is trying to convince us, for all his sarcasm and jabbing – that Napolitano is a bad actor in the alt media content machine really. For the last few years I’ve thought of his show as a gateway drug, for the uninitiated, to more thorough and reflective content on the same issues.
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pjay Yes. I think Helmer definitely has a bone to pick with Putin, so this is probably behind a lot of his sarcasm toward those who “condone and commend” his policies. A lot of his descriptive comments are accurate, as you point out. Yet I do not think his “carnival barker” insinuations are fair. It is true that the Judge’s guests, especially two of his most popular (Ritter and MacGregor), have tended to be overly optimistic in their pro-Russian predictions and one-sided in their analyses. But in agreement with your last point, they serve a useful purpose in countering the even more misleading “factoids, disinformation, wishful thinking, [and] propaganda” that saturates the mainstream media in the US. And I think Helmer is simply wrong when he says their emphasis on “drama” and Russian victories is a means of obfuscating
“… what the US is about in general, and up to in particular in the Ukraine. Better to show the Gadsden flag, eagles, Stars and Stripes, ‘Founding Father’ slogans, and a rotation of old men pining for the Russo-American rapprochement that is ‘the Great White Hope’.”
I’m not fond of the Judge’s “Gadsden flag” and “eagles” opening; I often skip over it when watching clips. But the greatest value of the podcast is precisely to explain to viewers “what the US is about” and in particular what it has been doing in Ukraine – information they will get from few other sources. And if the Judge’s libertarian credentials and patriotic memes bring a somewhat broader audience to a Max Blumenthal interview, then I see that as a positive. The “Great White Hope” charge is just a smear comment that echoes the liberal “Putin = Trump = Orban = racist authoritarian” narrative. Has Helmer watched any of the episodes on Israel or the Iran war?
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Quintian and Lucius Patriotic-nationalist-libertarian aesthetics and seldom-explicit (except when say, MacGregor is on) right wing preferences aside – you’re exactly right. Anyone exposed to Max Blumenthal is improved for it – in fact, Napolitano himself may have so been.
I’ve never quite understood Helmer’s politics or preferences or whatever you like. Sometimes I think he’s just an obligate contrarian and when he sees too much of a mass-zigging phenomenon he zags much sooner than anyone else. It’s useful to have people like that and he’s a dextrous writer so generally pleasant to read, but his worldview as a whole still doesn’t make sense to me, to the extent he has one.Reply ↓
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Mikel You think Helmer is the only one to notice this?
The clip he is showing is one I shared here on NC days ago from Reasons to Resist.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-O6U3tMvGA/
Bigotry And Triumphalism In The Alternative Media
(Oct. 16)Lascaris talks about the creation of the clip (not revealing the identity of the creator). Begins at the 44 min. mark.
The entire video gives more context for their particular discussion.
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KD Could it be professional envy and/or a ploy to generate publicity? Napolitano and all his guests are not without sin or blemishes, but Helmer strikes as completely over-the-top and lacking nuance (which is generally a precondition to possessing clear understanding of anything complex).
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“Department of War plays defense for Musk”
The Pentagon may have stonewalled lawmakers from investigating Musk throttling back Starlink to the Ukraine but I suspect that there is more to the story than that. I think that it was the Trump White House that did this to yank the Ukraine’s lead. So why did Musk step forward to take the fall? I think that Musk and Trump made a deal. Trump cannot afford the Starlink saga right now with the Midterms on top of him so he probably got Musk to take the fall as who is going to punish Musk for that? But who knows what Musk will get for doing this but you can bet that it involves a lot of government money.
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Re car “head units”–I looked to see if Amazon had one for my 2017 car and surprisingly (to me) they did and under $200 so not that expensive. Specs don’t list a cell radio and one reason to replace the factory original might be to get rid of this. As for junk Android apps, the unit would have to be connected to the web via wifi (which it has) for any of these to spy on you. Without a cell radio the replacement might mean less spying unless there is a secret radio broadcasting to Beijing. In theory the car’s original radio doesn’t use cell either unless you subscribe to a service.
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Acacia I believe some models actually have a second cell modem in the Telematics Control Unit (TCU), that can also conduct surveillance.
E.g., one of my friends discovered that after he returned a leased car, the dealer didn’t reset the TCU or the access password, and he was able to retrieve GPS info on the car’s location from the vendor’s cloud, even months after it had been leased to somebody else.
His comment: “this is how people can be blackmailed.”
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Carolinian I have the factory manual on html. No ‘tcu.’ If you can trust the Koreans….
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SantiagoB I can’t think of a post 2016 MY Japanese, Korean or German car that even has a “head unit” stereo in the same sense as older cars. In either of our post 2016 vehicles it would entail a very invasive and complex undertaking to replace the screens tasked with audio controls.
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Spastica Rex You haven’t run across of Crutchfield, I see.
Just because the “head unit” is behind a monolithic piece of plastic, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. DIN and Double-DIN are indeed antiquated standards for “head units,” IMO because it was to the advantage of the auto-makers to make it more difficult for citizens to avoid the mandatory initial purchase audio upgrade costs imposed by the new non-standards.
Like headlights – I became an automobile pilot when there were three (maybe four?) headlights: two sizes of round and one size of rectangular.
The Chinese have figured out how to get around the non-standards, in many cases.
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SantiagoB I replaced the factory speakers with some Pioneers from Crutchfield shortly after I bought the Japanese car. Just went to the site and did find aftermarket head units or stereos in several form factors, and it looks like it would take more work choosing the right one (or combination) than I’m willing to invest, to say nothing of the actual labor or required trim tools.
FWIW I designed VCMs for Chrysler and John Deere vehicles in the late 90s at Motorola so I’m familiar with what is involved replacing auto electronics, but I’m lazy and most of the year weather is unbearable here.
Very same car; to replace the headlight bulbs with LED I had to put the front end on jack stands, remove the wheels and bumper cover and undo several under body trim panels. Called up the dealer out of curiosity after realizing how much work was involved and they quoted me $750 back in 2017. No thanks.
In the time since people have come up with more creative less labor intensive methods and dealers were forced to lower their prices ( billable hours).
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Carolinian Yes on my 2017 you’d have to dismantle the dash to replace the original. It’s certainly doable but if done in a shop would doubtless cost a lot more than the radio.
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amfortas and this, right here, is why i will endeavor to keep my 2000 dodge pickup(only computer is diagnostic and fuel injection) and my o4 ford f150(its a little truck, but i ainta car guy…has a screen, but seems thats just for radio and clock stuff. i havent given it my cell #)
the dodge has the added benefit…per my mechanic buds…ofhaving warehouses full of parts, as well as being easy to work on(both told me to never get rid of it).
both have hand crank windows, and the dodge is a stick.
if i must replace either of them(touch wood), itll be some even older truck, even if i hafta restore the damned thing, myself.
a mule and a buckboard would do for a lot of what i travel around the county for…just take a lot more time for transit.one of my “neighbors”(mile away by the highway) is a horse lord…roping for jesus, and all…he just obtained a donkey.
i figger he’s thinkin about breeding mules.Reply ↓
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chris I have done that several times and a few different types of vehicles. Easiest was small to mid size trucks for model years 2012 to 2020. It wasn’t too bad in a Subaru forester either. Good reasons to do it are upgrading to Bluetooth connections, better functionality if you want to use apps while in your vehicle. Other times the native set up is just bad. Subaru’s systems are grabby and for a lot of model years just start playing music regardless of what you’ve told it to do when connected.
As for connectivity and tracking, depending on the apps you use, they may be doing it already. NC has hosted articles describing how services like Spotify track how many times you interact with it in a vehicle while it is moving and then report it. Insurance companies then take that data and give you a score. It probably doesn’t matter if the radio unit has independent cell service if you need an app on your phone to interact with the device.
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The Aurelien piece is excellent as usual, although I must say his reminder that the bizarre calendar reforms of the high French Revolution bear a striking resemblance to inane corporate-formal policy does tend to drive one towards reaction. Lord I know that I’m weak – but I’d sooner say a dozen our fathers each night and goosestep down market street than sit through one more sluggishly presented powerpoint on the minutiae of timesheet policy.
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RE: Hackers allegedly from North Korea steal US$6.3 billion from Binance in world’s biggest crypto heist
Does anybody from the West ever commit crimes any more?!?? Pretty sure Dieter, Giuseppe and Francois have at least tipped a cow or two. But at least this time when they assigned blame with a complete lack of corroborating evidence, it was someone other than the Russkies.
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The Boot returns
Wonder if he got in a fight while visiting Waffle House?
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RE: Record-High Heating Oil Prices Are Closing Argument in Maine Senate Race
And here I was thinking that kidnapping Venezuela’s leader and stealing their oil was going to lead to lower prices for all here in the US.
I’m so old, I can remember when Hugo Chavez offered Maine residents discounted heating oil to get through a tough winter –
“Jan 12, 2006.- Today it was announced that the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez continued its program to provide relief for low income U.S. residents by delivering cheaper oil products.
Today, Maine State Governor John Baldacci, along with representatives from the state’s heating oil assistance program, signed an agreement with CITGO Petroleum Corporation, the century-old U.S. refining and retailing arm of Venezuela´s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela – PDVSA, to provide 8 million gallons of heating oil at a 40% discount to low-income residents in the state of Maine.”
The US never did forgive him for that act of kindness and generosity.
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ambrit Neoliberalism Rule #3:
No good deed goes unpunished.Reply ↓
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Rod ambrit—God bless for your constant, supportive, and edgy commentary at another recent and insightful blog spot.
And to lab—in socialist solidarity and response to magnanimity offered, I started exclusively buying Citgo in 1989, and for sure stopped last year.
Appreciate your commentary…
About the ‘ new’ Citgo:
https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAESngEB6zswFTN2QwrhJ29EDZvAUzQtmszR_1AlZe39soWgDBNnOCAyXn_Zc4sTqh4uLR44a7mlj_b9joLZu7mJjnwxEOhbW6eufUPozMn8_vujy_uI7AFkEMoU889-2_yoDPygdPEjqXw0PsaWZuqXksy2_kHNG_hmcfnr3aOyUE9QlSZj2bARiQPKzIvPn1nxKVrAUgqkl-DX1_7ap01ifwReply ↓
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ambrit Thanks!
As for Northern climate heating methods. I have read that oil furnace heating of buildings was the general rule back when fuel was, if not cheap, at least affordable for the average family unit. Now, with the race to the Neoliberal Paradise Past, older methods of coping with the cold will return. The problem for most will be the amount of time and resources needed to make the transition. Incidentally, the same applies to the South and the heat. When electricity becomes an Upper Class luxury item, all manner of passive coping strategies will again become the norm.
Someone will have to take up the burden and manage the transition to the New and Improved lower energy use lifestyle. It feels like that the extant political parties are failing to live up to their dual mandate to spur and guide social improvement.
Power is lying in the street.
Stay safe.Reply ↓
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The Mint article “Rappers For Regime Change: How the CIA Recruits Hip Hop Artists Around the World”, builds on work done by Mike Benz and released a month ago on YouTube as US AID & the Rap Game. I posted a link to that here at the time. I skimmed the article but saw no reference to Mike’s work, but he has done more research of his own.
Information is always valuable, no matter the source. I listen to Robert Barnes, not because of his politics but in spite of his politics, because he is a source of information. This was made harder after his rant over a year ago about the Palestinians, but it is true of a number of other bloggers and web sites. I am not a fly on the wall of the Trump administration and cannot penetrate the offices of silicon valley or Washington DC from my couch. I see that Alistair Cooke referenced The Conservative Treehouse the other day in a piece he did for Conflicts Forum. I was a bit surprised to see that, but he probably also values information highly, regardless of the politics of the source. After all, he was a ‘diplomat’ for many years.
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flora Yes. I read both sides, all sides for the information that may contained, not for the spin. Thanks.
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Mikel For decades, the agency has been dipping in the music biz as they have the movie industry.
Another example: Probably more than urban legend that the “Top 40 Playlist” format is due to relations with the agency.
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pete Some get Hip Hop wanabees, some get Pussy Riot. I say we deserve better psyops, at least from the musical standpoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHylQRVN2QsReply ↓
A pleasant surprise to see some metal representation here at NC! Plenty of great picks on the list too, although I can kinda tell it was written by someone who’s maybe a little too close to the genre. Mayhem’s DMDS is a certified classic, but I think Attila’s vocal style probably comes off a little too goofy to outsiders to really make it a top-spot inclusion. I think also its impact is heavily dependent on how familiar one is with the abundant drama of the Norwegian second-wave scene. Genre tourists would benefit greatly from learning a bit about the sordid history of that milieu.
For my money, the French selections (Deathspell & Blut Aus Nord) are the finest on offer here, the latter of which is possessed by an overbearing lifeless dread that’s quite unique. Deathspell’s SMRC, while a great album in its own right is something of a debut for them, and the least-mature work of their mature phase – it only gets better from there on out, and they are among a very tiny contingent of still-vital forces in the extreme metal sphere. Like most other musical subcultures, it ran out of ideas decades ago and has degraded into self-reflexive worship and genre-mashups. There are talented, enthusiastic young bands putting out competent material of course, but they’re all just rehashing ideas that have already been exhausted.
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ThirtyOne Talk about scary-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=405WliyzAs0Reply ↓
This is a must read. It’s long but shows never let a good thing happen that you can control the message.
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ThirtyOne Everything/everyone is for sale.
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an aside, and because it’s Halloween….
Does anyone else notice the resemblance between Grandpa Munster and Ted Cruz? / :)
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ambrit This could be fun!
Donald Trump and Cousin It.Reply ↓
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amfortas my voice has gotten a lot deeper in my decrepitude…so when i miss a call, and call them back, i say “You Rang?…” in the deepest Lurch i can muster.
absolutely nobody gets the cultural reference, therein.Reply ↓
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maria gostrey netanyahu & nosferatu?
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ambrit Yes. Both have made deals with the Devil.
Be safe out on the streets of Paris mademoiselle.Reply ↓
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Yalt On the subject of Halloween and politics… a trick-or-treater came to the door tonight dressed as a bag of Cheetos!
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Note.
Not American citizens or the American people. It’s poor ObamaCare. Weep for it.
Obamacare Dealt Yet Another Blow as Premiums Rise Again (NY Times; archive)
Millions of Americans who depend on Obamacare for their health insurance face another double-digit price increase next year, adding to the financial toll that has already driven millions of others to drop coverage since last year.
The price increases largely reflect higher medical costs across the country. But they also are a signal of the latest blow to Obamacare under the Trump administration, which has overseen the expiration of tax credits that helped Americans pay for coverage and has erected new barriers to enrollment in an effort to root out what it describes as widespread fraud.
The average price of health insurance in the Obamacare marketplaces will rise by 13 percent next year, according to an analysis on Friday by KFF, the health research group.
Thanks Obama, for ending the push for universal healthcare for at least a generation!
Without Obama, there could be no Trump.
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flora Even at its inception O Care was seen by almost everyone in economics and finance as a give away to the insurance companies. Ins Co stock valuations immediately rose. A new, legally captured market with a govt subsidy to begin with. What’s not to like? The subsidy is whittled away by inches, then yards, the ins rates go up and up, and there is no recourse for the avg person.
As for “if you like your insurance plan and your doc you can keep them.” Sure. Right. As long as the ins cos don’t change their rules. Which of course they promptly did…… ‘Sorry, we no longer offer that insurance plan. Sorry your doc isn’t in our coverage network.’ etc.Reply ↓
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flora Ins Cos are giving big money to pols this midterm year. Over 90% of the money is going to incumbents in both parties, not challengers. (Vote the bums out. / ;)
From Wendell Potter’s substack:
Midterm Money: 97% of Health Insurance Industry Campaign Contributions Went to Incumbents
Ten health insurer PACs gave $4.2 million across 287 of the 470 House and Senate races on the November ballot.
https://healthcareuncovered.substack.com/p/midterm-money-97-of-health-insurance
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ambrit Saint Luigi Rector to the rescue!
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Jason Boxman How’s this slight of hand
In 2026, premiums rose by an average of 26 percent, with the cost for all consumers more than doubling on average for the same plan, after the Republican-led Congress decided to let temporary federal subsidies expire.
…
Democrats forced a record 43-day government shutdown last year, as they tried to leverage government funding on an extension of the subsidies or health care tax credits.
No mention that Biden refused to make them permanent, had two years to do so, and when Senate Democrats had Trump on the run, they folded during the shutdown and walked away with absolutely nothing whatsoever to save the filibuster.
Well played!
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flora Kabuki !
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Imperial collapse watch
This is the first in a series of articles examining how the Trump administration has upended the pursuit of science. (NY Times; archive)
The warning, buried in an obscure government report this summer, was unflinching.
The Defense Department’s vaunted network of research laboratories — whose scientists helped develop satellite communication, radar technology, and even the computer mouse — was in trouble.
The labs lost a significant share of their staff last year, largely in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to thin the federal work force, the report found. Refilling critical positions was proving difficult due in part to President Trump’s demand that new hires be screened for their loyalty to his goals. The report, issued by the Pentagon, pointed to “potentially grave consequences for the future of national defense.”
(bold mine)
Pathological stupidly.
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John k Substitute ‘pathological war machine’ for ‘national defense’ and it doesn’t sound so bad.
Probably gets Iran’s vote, among others.Reply ↓
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albrt I was speaking with a couple of friends last night with professional positions in a related government enterprise. They both said that their bosses insist on all references to artificial intelligence being changed to super intelligence. There is zero possibility of any competent person taking a professional job under this administration. Meanwhile, the administration will just have to keep terrorizing the people who have enough years in that they are unwilling quit.
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The Rev Kev Just wait until Trump announces the arrival of SDI – Super Dooper Intelligence. Feel sorry fro your friends though having to deal with this crap.
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For those who may be interested, at the time of writing (17h45 CET) the demonstrations in France have finished and the protesters have dispersed. The demonstrations were peaceful and good-humoured. Turnout was substantial, but continues to decline slightly.
What is now happening is that groups of the demonstrators, and new arrivals in the traditional black clothing with masks and helmets, are confronting the police. So far, it’s the traditional stone-throwing mixed with home-made explosives, to which the Police reply with CS gas. Most of the town-centres are deserted and boarded up, but the Police are trying to stop rioters from getting into areas where they could do damage. Some shops seem to have been set on fire, but so far things have not got out of hand. However, it’s getting dark, and there’s a general expectation that things will get nastier. There are two special factors as well. One is that it’s Halloween (imported from the US), which has quickly become an occasion for random violence in certain areas, like the ritual burning of cars at New Year. The other is that extreme-Right groups have been active on WhatsApp, apparently trying to organise counter-violence against the rioters. However, such groups hate the police as much as the others do, if it happens, it’ll be a three-cornered fight.
Just bear in mind that anything reported as happening after about 18h00 CET today will not be part of the “demonstrations,” but something quite separate.
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flora Thanks for the update. If the newcomers turn out to be troublemakers then the MSM will no doubt try to tar the peaceful demonstrators as the troublemakers. In the US we saw that happen during the BLM protests.
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ThirtyOne Japan municipalities step up measures against disruptive Halloween crowds
The festivities have increasingly become associated with public disorder, with revelers drinking on the streets, littering and causing disturbances. Concerns intensified after crowds overturned a small truck in Shibuya during Halloween celebrations in 2018.
https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/89659
“Goodbye Bad Halloween”
(note the signage uses english.)Reply ↓
Happy Reformation Day! It was on All Hallows’ Eve, October 31, in 1517 that Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses up on the door of the church at Wittenberg.
Here’s a good version of the Luther-composed hymn based on Psalm 46, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” complete with a procession and the “reds” out in full on Reformation Day.
In unrelated news, Grace Slick celebrated her 87th birthday yesterday. You’ll note that the Jefferson Airplane member was not a Boomer.
Here’s a few of Grace’s songs:
“Feed your head:” “White Rabbit”
“Don’t change before the Empire falls:” “Greasy Heart”
“Redwoods talk to me.
Say it plainly:
The human name
Doesn’t mean shit to a tree:” “Eskimo Blue Day”
“I’d rather have my country die for me:” “Rejoyce“
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flora Thanks for the history and the link to A Mighty Fortress and all the other song links.
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Henry Moon Pie You’re very welcome, flora. I’m no longer a Christian, but “A Mighty Fortress” still stirs the emotions. When the choir sings by itself without the congregation for a couple of verses, you can really hear the syncopated version of the hymn. It’s a lot of fun to sing.
And Grace’s “Redwoods talk to me” line makes me think of Wuk.
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amfortas i went with suegra to marble falls for the funeral of one of Tam’s cousins…36…died of MS/Hep/Cirrhosis.
catholic mass, with a priest past his sell by.
one of the hymns was Tam’s fave…and was sung at her funeral:how great thou art.
i aint a christian(but have, perhaps jesusist tendencies)…and its one of my faves, as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlluY-9JZBQReply ↓
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flora Whoa! really weird that utube is suddenly silencing all the utube vids on this thread. No sound at all. At least as I can tell from my link clicks at this time at 8.39 pm cdt. / ymmv
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flora ignore this comment. sorry.
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flora Beautiful. Thank you.
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Henry Moon Pie The old hymn writers knew how to reach the heart. And we often hear those hymns at seminal moments in our lives like funerals, holidays with families, etc. They get implanted pretty deep.
I was always a bit of a high church guy: processions; maybe some smells and bells; chanted liturgy. I had been taught in seminary that Christian worship takes place at two levels: the Church Militant, alive and gathered in the nave of the church; and the Church Triumphant, looking down from heaven. Using the ancient forms of “high church” made sense to me because of the historical connection. The good thing about Lutheran theology was that worship style was deemed adiaphora, indifferent things, so individual congregations were free to pick their style without running the risk of offending YHWH.
Another factor was probably the Christmas celebrations I participated in while in high school. The concerts were held in the Grand Hall of Nelson Art Gallery, a marbled interior that was a very live room. The climax was the “Boar’s Head Carol.” (as performed at Queen’s College, Oxford) Also, very stirring.
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B24s One of my all time favorites, Good Shepard, from “Volunteers”:
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Henry Moon Pie Mine too. That was a product of the Hot Tuna boys, JA lead Jorma Kaukonen and widely respected bassist, Jack Casady. Those two were still playing gigs until a few years ago. Kaukonen has a “music ranch” in southern Ohio where he instructs youths in the dark arts of the guitar, electric and acoustic.
My wife’s and my second date was a JA concert, the Volunteers tour. A friend and I were sitting around our high school newspaper’s office, listening to the local “underground rock” station when they announced that tickets for JA had just gone on sale a few blocks away. We left immediately in his car and front row tickets were still available for the 10 o’clock show, so that’s what we bought.
Several weeks later, I met my wife-to-be at a dance, and I just happened to have front-row tickets to JA the next weekend. They opened with “We Can Be Together,” followed immediately by “Volunteers.” It was quite the tribal celebration for which I was appropriately attired in green and orange striped bell bottoms and my dad’s Army shirt.
The only hitch was that it was the 10 o’clock Friday night show, and I had SATs the next morning. I got home about 3 in the morning, and my mother was waiting up to tell me I was grounded for like forever, and I had to conspire with friends for the next couple of months to evade the sentence, but it all worked out. The early struggles to be together were a precursor of the next 56 years, but we’re still muddling through, now with three wonderful granddaughters.
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Martin Oline Saw the same tour in Iowa City when they had homecoming. I think Commander Cody was the opening act but that might have been years later in Des Moines.
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Ukraine seems to be nightly sending 7-8 times as many drones at Russia now as Russia is sending into Ukraine, judging by the past week’s reports that I have been reading. Russia is hitting alleged “drone assembly” facilities in Ukraine with missiles, but that doesn’t appear to be stopping the flood of drones heading its way. Is it just that Ukraine is too large to locate all the places where drones are being made, or is there substantial foreign input to Ukraine’s drone supply? If the latter, how to shut it down?
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Two supertankers carrying over 2 million barrels of oil and another 3 vessels were attacked yesterday while trying to avoid the Iranian Navy designated maritime route.
Why in the world don’t ship operators just cooperate with Iran and pay the toll allowing their ships to pass through the Straight of Hormuz without Iranian attacks? It can’t be a matter of the money itself. I assume that the Iranian government would happily go along with the arrangement, since they proposed it and set up the infrastructure for a toll.
Businesses pay protection money (and taxes and insurance premiums!) all the time for the sake of having a smoothly operating business. Even if you are wildly opposed to what Iran is demanding, every business person should understand it and know how to coexist with it.
What am I missing?
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flora From 6 months ago:
The US Treasury warns any shipping company that pays Iran tolls to transit Hormuz could face sanctions
Caught between a rock and a hard place, as they say.
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Mikel “The clarification comes from a major insurance trade body and effectively puts owners on notice: if a vessel’s transit involves payment of a toll or fee to Iran to secure safe passage, the underlying insurance policy could be voided. This is a meaningful shift because informal toll or fee arrangements have, at various points during regional conflicts, been floated or used as a practical way for shipping companies to reduce transit risk. That workaround now carries a direct insurance consequence.”
This is from July.
Iran tried this:
https://www.agbi.com/analysis/shipping/2026/09/iranian-insurance-coercion-raises-shipping-sanctions-risks/And then there are the fears that other countries near other passageways that aren’t man-made will start imposing fees.
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The New Bottleneck in America’s AI Build-Out: A Shortage of Cheap Money Wall Street Journal.
I’ve been enjoying the AI reporting in the business media the last few days. Everyone has pretty much done a 180 on the future of the technology and it’s supporters, but they are tip-toeing away from their former positions in ways that they probably imagine to be subtle but could not be more obvious. Now “it might be a while before AI becomes profitable,” and so on. Very entertaining.
Every massive media failure brings forth its own hero, and I think Ed Zitron has single-handedly done an amazing job at shifting the Overton window in the last year or two. It wasn’t long ago that he sounded like a man from Mars compared to his colleagues, but lately he seems to be setting forth the consensus viewpoint.
Hopefully Zitron can take his place next to AJ Leonardi wrt Covid when the Cassandra Prizes are handed out!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngYQQOWqQyY/
The Truth About Data Centers w/ Paris Marx | Better Offline
Much discussion about water.
My spitball:
With a global establishment that believes people are dog doo that can moved around like plantation labor and discarded at will, they probably set up in regions already high stressed for water because it would accelerate the crisis for the people in those regions.
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I wonder how much longer Oracle stock will stay “Investment Grade”?
Ellison is seriously over leveraged and Mr Market has “Happy Feet”, I would be surprised if Larry doesn’t get a call from Mr Margin in the next Month or so.
Given a choice between Oracle stock and Beanie Babies as collateral for a loan I’d have to think about it.
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ambrit I’d say that when it comes to Oracle stock versus Beanie Babies, it is a Ty.
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Maybe I missed it being discussed here recently, but I saw an announcement from Delcy that Venezuela will be selling off all “non-essential” state-owned companies/resources. Some people I have come to trust and admire have been very defensive of Delcy and maybe she has no choice even if she has good intentions, but at this point the outcome appears to be no different than Yeltsin. I feel for the Venezualan people.
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vao It increaingly looks as if, in Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez will be to Nicolas Maduro what Lenin Moreno was to Rafael Correa in Ecuador.
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Quintian and Lucius Might not be who you mean but I remember the Grayzone fellas used to defend Delcy; I think they may have known her personally, some of them. It’s a different measure of a woman when there’s a gun to her head.
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