Through the Eyes of Shop Cats Sixth Tone (guurst)
I Thought This Was a Literary Myth Until I Checked Classical Literature (Micael T)
Sciencing With a Primate Brain: Reflections on the Nature of Scientific Thought Adam Neiblum (Micael T)
Shift Happens Oldster (Micael T). I dunno…
Scientists discover why exercise reverses muscle aging Science Daily (Kevin W)
Climate/Environment
UN warns likelihood of ‘extreme weather events’ as El Nino set to intensify Aljazeera
China warming faster than global average as extreme weather intensifies, report says Asia News
The summer heat intensifies, making Arab capitals among the hottest places on earth Arabia Weather
Shipowners turn to dirty fossil fuels and nuclear power as green hopes sail away Financial Times
From last week, still germane:
⚠️ New: Study finds current US Heatwave “Shattered” All-Time Records for “Humid-Heat”‼️
On the below graph the magenta dot indicates this week’s humid-heat – far above anything ever observed in the Northeast US.
The event was found to be “impossible” in a pre-industrial… pic.twitter.com/QtWgXOV81b— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) July 3, 2026
China?
China’s sea patrols and lawfare tighten ‘all fronts’ squeeze on Taiwan Nikkei
As tech rallies and consumer shares lag, China’s stock market forms microcosm for economy South China Morning Post
Why are China’s doctors moonlighting as delivery drivers? The Times
The Robots Are Here China Talk
Koreas
North Korean leader Kim observes weapons tests from new naval destroyer Independent
India
Typhoid, intestinal infections surge in Pune as water scarcity bites, doctors say cases likely far higher Times of India
Southeast Asia
Renewed Myanmar violence fuels fears of refugee movement into Bangladesh Business Standard
Aid Cuts Could Turn Rohingya Crisis Into Regional Security Risk Impact Policies
Cambodia Accuses Thai Military of Installing Barbed Wire at Mom Bei Area KiriPost
Africa
Ethiopia: Tigray Authorities Forcibly Recruiting Civilians Human Rights Watch
How conflict minerals fuel war in eastern DR Congo amid US sanctions Aljazeera
More impending horrors in Sudan Economist
South of the Border
Not yet verified but this account is generally reliable:
Cubas electricity grid has collapsed plunging much of the Island into darkness.
— WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@WarMonitor3) July 6, 2026
Cuban farmers rush to sell land as Trump’s fuel blockade hits harvests Financial Times .
US Provides $300 Million in Earthquake Recovery Money to Venezuela While Sitting on $8 Billion in Stolen Oil Wealth Common Dreams (Kevin W)
The Amazon is not just under environmental assault. It’s also increasingly under criminal control Globe and Mail
European Disunion
Calling themselves communists – making the big city a success Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T; “This must be Russia disinformation. European politicians that make life better for the people? Ridiculous! And on top of that receiving votes as a thank you for the improvement? In Europe the norm is to have fridge-level approval rates and immiserate people.”
The cost of heat: Why Europe’s economy is melting RT (Kevin W)
Dip in U.S. LNG Imports to EU Spells Trouble for Trade Deal OilPrice
Germany sees mass demonstrations as far-right AfD eyes power Daily Sabah
The Purpose of the Anti-AfD System Is What It Does eugyppius (Micael T)
Early heatwaves are devastating French agriculture and leaving farmers helpless Le Monde
Thousands more evacuated as wildfires spread across southern France Connexion France
The goal is to have 200 return to Afghanistan – zero has been achieved Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Britain to lead European drive to build long-range Nato missiles Telegraph
The Wuhan lab of British politics Ed West
Amber heat-health alerts issued as UK could see 10 consecutive days of temperatures over 30C BBC (Kevin W)
UK farmers embrace regenerative methods after heatwave shock Financial Times
Israel v. The Resistance
The Financial Times reports that the funeral ceremonies for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are expected to draw 12 million to 15 million attendees over several days, potentially rivaling the largest funeral gathering in modern history.
The current benchmark… https://t.co/BGLwkWuRnp
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) July 6, 2026
Sanaa tests the blockade as Riyadh weighs its next move The Cradle
Lebanese Christians Reject Netanyahu’s Claim They Requested Annexation Into Israel Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
“In the West Bank, it’s a showdown now.” Cara Mariana
Syraqistan
BREAKING: Multiple explosive devices detonated near the Damascus hotel hosting French President Emmanuel Macron, a security source told Reuters. https://t.co/0YO7vBSb2y
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 7, 2026
They’re doing everything they were doing against Iran before convincing US to strike them
Same tactics used against Turkey now https://t.co/MrPfryMvRw
— ًً (@kelevitch) July 6, 2026
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia says Ukrainian drones targeted Siberian oil refinery, Kursk II Nuclear Plant Anadolu Agency
Ukrainian Authorities Panic as Patriots Run Out Amidst Russian Ballistic Frenzy Simplicius. Amazing factoid courtesy the Wall Street Journal:
Shockingly, the article states that each single Pac-3MSE missile takes over two years to build.
Granted, there are many being built at the same time, but the total lead time for the manufacture of all the different parts, and then final assembly—which itself takes six weeks—apparently totals over the two year mark. The main reason is that there are over 400 different companies supplying parts to this single missile type, which all manufacture their various components at different rates and scales. The components themselves then all have to be individually tested before final delivery. This entire complex process explains why expanding the supply chains all at once is nearly impossible, and why the ambitious goal of 2,000 per year will likely never be even remotely approached.
Poor Prospects for Peace in Ankara Olivier Boyd-Barrett. Here, “Ankara” = NATO meeting.
Stubb named the reason for NATO countries’ support for strikes deep into Russia. Vzglayd via machine translation (guurst)
“Why Doesn’t Putin Just Finish It?….” Mark Sleboda
🇺🇦Kyiv asks for Patriot missiles in advance
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has proposed that the West transfer Patriot missiles from its own stockpiles immediately, and subsequently replenish them with supplies contracted for next year.
According to him, "a simple…
— dana (@dana916) July 6, 2026
Russia’s “Systematic Strikes” Are Reshaping The Ukrainian Conflict’s Strategic Dynamics Andrew Korkybko
Yes, Virginia, Russia Helped USA Become Independent Jeff Rich
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
🚨🇪🇺BREAKING: The EU has announced that every citizen will soon require a digital passport to access the internet.
They have explicitly stated that "The new verification system cannot be bypassed via VPN."
They will have complete control over everything you do online
— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) July 6, 2026
Imperial Collapse Watch
Has America Crossed the Asshole Threshold? Carlyn Beccia
The Reload War Shankana Anaselm Perera
Trump 2.0
The Atlantic republishes JD Vance’s anti-Trump essay from 10 years ago Guardian (resilc)
Amid Mounting War Casualties, Pete Hegseth “Defunded and Impeded” Efforts to Protect Civilians, Lawmakers Say ProPublica (Robin K)
Marine One helipad to be built on White House lawn, Trump says Military Times (Kevin W)
Donald Trump, Arsonist in Chief, The President from Hell Tom Engelhardt
Supremes
Last Week’s Other News Steve Vladeck
Economy
BREAKING: President Trump says Walmart, $WMT, has informed him that they will be lowering prices "by a lot" at his request to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States.
This will include price cuts on ground beef by almost 15%, Trump says. pic.twitter.com/8YwiQPObTS
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 6, 2026
Trump’s War Means Higher Global Interest Rates for Years to Come Yahoo
America’s sea of debt is fuelling the need for a rate rise The Times
Mr. Market Needs a Therapist
The next financial crisis may start in your shopping cart YNET. ZOMG, the parallels to subprime lending are stronger than this indicates. First, “forward flow” is very much like the warehouse lines of credit subprime loan buyers like Bear Sterns extended to originators like IndyMac. There was skin in the game of sorts, in that the loan buyers had “putbacks” whereby they could reject loans or loan pools that did not meet their standards.
AI bubble fears, the endless K-shaped economy, and insane hyperscaler capex spending Yahoo
AI
Please click through and read in full. This is fiction but written so as to be essentially true:
I am the one who stayed. I am the analyst who survived the third layoff round in a year, still at my desk, and I have learned to read the silence.
I did not get the email this time either. The email goes out at 6:14 in the morning. If I wake up at 6:20 and my badge still beeps…
— Peter Girnus 🦅 (@gothburz) July 6, 2026
Inside CAA’s Secret AI “Vault,” Where Actors Can Live Forever—If They Want Vanity Fair (Dr. Kevin)
The AI Boom Runs on Debt. Global Regulators Want to Shut Off the Tap 24/7 Wall Street
This Is Not An Earnings Bubble, It Is A Leverage Bubble Seeking Alpha
>Chinese resellers are offering Claude tokens at 70-90% below official Anthropic API prices Hacker News Micael T: ” am not condoning criminal activities but I am indulging in Schadenfreude.”
Bipartisan bill fails to protect US consumers from datacenters’ true costs, critics warn Guardian
Bare Functionalism Versus Digital Computational Functionalism Eric Schwitzgebel (Micael T)
OpenAI Is Starting To Crack YouTube. resilc: ” OpenAI wants a government bailout – NATIONAL SECURITYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”
The Bezzle
Bitcoin falls as Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 3,588 Bitcoin between June 29 and July 5 InvestingLive
Class Warfare
WE HERE KEEP SAYING IT: THE SOVIET UNION WAS THE BEST FRIEND PEOPLE IN THE US EVER HAD. WITH IT GONE, SO ARE YOUR LIVING STANDARDS. https://t.co/TpfgjVoYjv
— Yasha Levine (@yashalevine) July 6, 2026
A University Degree is No Longer Worth It Global Geopolitics
Privatisation of gas, education driving total inflation over 20 years, new research finds News.com.au
Cost-of-living crisis drives new wave of families to Tauranga foodbanks New Zealand Herald
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Saw this lovely Swallowtail hanging out between a Magnolia tree and this Lily of the Nile on this morning’s walk”
And a bonus:
The dogs refused to go inside so the kitty had to use another way pic.twitter.com/K82rTu3Ads
— positive side of X 🌞 (@positivityofx) July 6, 2026
A second bonus:
Mama duck leads her ducklings to a cozy spot in the house, i.e. the cat's bed..🦆🐈🦆😍 pic.twitter.com/yPnxo2V4TD
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) July 6, 2026
And a third:
cats are built different 😹😹 pic.twitter.com/eU8pXZI5JQ
— Antidepressant Content (@depressionlesss) July 6, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
Happy 250th from Straya, mate.
https://michaelwest.com.au/red-card-a-birthday-message-from-australia-to-america/
By the way, are the EU-tards still staying in Kiev?
They refused to leave when Russia told civilians and diplomatic staff to leave.
The article:
The extreme heat and drought have brought this year’s harvest forward by weeks, while causing dramatic crop failures in several regions
is reported as being from “Hungry Today”. It is actually from “Hungary Today”, but given the topic, I find the typo quite fitting.
“China tests long-range missile in South Pacific in move Australia condemns as ‘destabilising to region’”
I would have said that Oz and the US signing up South Pacific nations like Fiji into “defense” agreements would have been destabilizing but that is just me. With that missile not only did China demonstrate that they can reach out and touch someone in the South Pacific and those US bases in Oz but that they show that that US base in Diego Garcia is now also in their gun-sights.
But why, oh why, do politicians have to come out with this sort of drek-
‘The Pacific is an Ocean of Peace and we are deeply concerned by China’s testing of nuclear-capable weapons into the South Pacific.’
Re: tactics against Turkiye
What on earth is a minister from Rwanda FFS doing calmly sitting next to a genocidaire?
Oh, murderers hang together, as it were. The most ruthless regime in Africa meets the most ruthless regime in the Middle East. They can exchange torture tips, and ideas for manipulating western public opinion.
“I Thought This Was a Literary Myth Until I Checked”
‘How one of the most famous poems in Victorian literature ended up inside a coffin’
That’s a helluva story that and was only possible during the Victorian Era. The only thing missing was a link to the poem itself-
https://englishverse.com/poems/the_blessed_damozel
The overall story would be familiar to those who saw Ken Russell’s television film Dante’s Inferno from the late sixties. Of course, anything Russell made played with facts, but I thought the overall biography was very good.
More info on Mitch McConnell’s health situation:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5955865-mitch-mcconnell-senate-health-status/
I am inclined to believe that witch Loomer, as she has Taco’s ear and probably has the skinny on the latest gossip.
Even if old Glitch somehow makes it out of the hospital, he probably is facing a long recovery and won’t be able to make any votes for several months, until after Labor Day. Making the GOP even more paralyzed and unable to pass anything. Including that stinking weasel Mike Johnson’s reconciliation bill. Such a shame!
#SummerOfRage
I wouldn’t assume anything just yet. When Diane Feinstein was an obvious basket case she was largely under the constant watch of her daughter and Nancy Corinne Prowda, the daughter of Nancy Pelosi.
The NYT said, “The California Democrat is surrounded by a large retinue of aides at all times, who tell her how and when to vote, explain what is going on when she is confused, and shield her from the press and public.”
My memory isn’t precise, but it is possible that when DiFi was convalescing, it was during the pandemic circa 2020-2023. During that time the Senate allowed absentee voting, but I believe that is no longer the case.
So unless they change the rules to make another exception for the Mitchster, I don’t see how he is going to vote on anything other than what channel to watch on the big TV mounted in his hospital room.
Apparently when he was found, rigor tortoise had already set in.
[Drum fill]
Good one!
Speaking of Carlyn Beccia’s piece, The Asshole Threshold…
“Cuban farmers rush to sell land as Trump’s fuel blockade hits harvests” Financial Times
The financial engineer’s plan all along – same thing everywhere you look.
My slant on a previously misattributed quote –
-If people ever allow corporations and banks to control the economy, the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all property until they wake up homeless in the country they were born-
to the neoliberal; Workers = sheep to be sheered whence their fleece is grown…. if their fleece is not good enough…..
Even the ruthless Roman Emperor Tiberius knew that ‘It is the duty of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them.’ This is something that Neoliberals have forgotten – or ignored.
Cubans don’t own their land and can’t sell it. Land is owned by the government and farmers have it in usufruct as long as they are able to use it. Note the quote about selling is anonymous. The other quotes are from an identified individual on an identified farm. Distribution and access has always been an issue, undoubtedly critical now. During the Obama “opening” of Cuba, US agribusiness was salivating. Evidently they are slobbering now.
‘Peter Girnus 🦅
@gothburz
I am the one who stayed. I am the analyst who survived the third layoff round in a year, still at my desk, and I have learned to read the silence.’
Quite a read. The only thing missing from this fictional piece is where he remembers how he lost his job after leaving school when the local industry was shipped to China so he took the Government’s advice to ‘learn to code’ – and here he is.
Even if I knew with complete certainty that everyone in this story was real, I would not feel any empathy for them. Perhaps the crop of PMCs I was exposed to over a decade or so was especially vicious; perhaps not. But this is the game they were so enthusiastic about.
In the AI section, the Hacker News article instead links to the Eric Schwitzgebel article.
Working link for that “Chinese resellers are offering Claude tokens at 70-90% below official Anthropic API prices” article at-
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48667495
Damn those Chinese Capitalists! Quick. Somebody give Anthropic a bailout. /sarc
Carlyn Breccia on Thresholds and Not Crossing Them.
Definitely worth your while if you live in the U S of A.
This is why you
—have to go to demonstrations even if you think that they aren’t effective. (Hint: They are.)
—attend neighborhood meetings that drone on. (Hint: At least in Chicago, the politicos were forced to listen.)
—observe jury duty and serve. (Hint: Enlightening to listen to once’s fellow jurors. Although I was lucky enough once to be elected foreman of a Cook Country jury, so I’m prejudiced.)
—vote (Hint: It is a civic ritual, no matter how degraded.)
Here in Italy, where the civic organizations are in constant ferment, I am reminded of this at demonstrations, where each union shows up with its many flags, especially the CGIL and UIL, where the political parties show up with their flags, and where I get a chance to march with a flag on May Day with the Torino chapter of ARCI.
But read Breccia’s historical arguments, which are well marshaled and well written.
Yes, I strongly second this recommendation. I almost skipped this because the title – ‘Has America Crossed the Asshole Threshold?’ – suggested to me that it was shallow, if perhaps accurate, satire. It was not, for the reasons you mention here. She is correct about the importance of both public information and political/civic organization by society’s “cooperators” if we are to avoid ultimate destruction by the “parasites.” However, there is another important element in her history lesson that she does not emphasize but it is there between the lines. There does need to be a push from below by a critical mass of the people. But also required is the presence of non-parasitic elites at crucial periods in positions from which they can influence social and political outcomes. These may include elite-adjacent writers or academics (Sinclair, Tarbell) or activist-oriented government officials (Perkins), but also *actual* elites in positions of real power that enable such a societal change-of-course because they recognize the outcome otherwise (both Roosevelts, for example, though many of us on the left are loath to acknowledge this).
Well-worth the read.
“Ukrainian Authorities Panic as Patriots Run Out Amidst Russian Ballistic Frenzy”
‘Major weapons production facilities were said to be hit, and some claim even stored Pac-3 interceptors for the Patriot system were amongst the targets, though this is unverified. The secondary explosions certainly pointed to some sort of munitions being struck’
I wonder about the origin of those Pac-3 interceptors and where they came from. Why? A huge scandal has blown up in Poland-
‘The parliamentary opposition in Poland has demanded answers from the government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after reports of a secret delivery of in-demand Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine.
On Saturday, several Polish social media accounts, including prominent blogger Pawel Sokala, claimed that the authorities in Warsaw had handed over a batch of US-made PAC3 interceptors to Kiev in March without announcing it publicly or consulting with parliament.’
https://www.rt.com/news/642592-poland-ukraine-patriot-us/
And now the Polish military has been stripped of these vital missiles and replacements from the US may be years away. Bonus points because the Poles are having very bitter relations with the Ukrainians right now.
I was reading on MoA that Poland also gave away their last 14 MiG fighters to the green T-shirt, in exchange for some vague promises to share drone tech.
The Poles probably think they’re just cleaning out the boneyard of those older generation fighters, relying on an illusory promise from Taco to replace them with shiny new F-16s or F-35s. But I would be careful if I were a Polish air force general, those newer US jets may never come. They might want to consider my trademarked description of the Trump administration:
The Lying Liars who lie, lie, lie! ™
This is perhaps why the Poles ordered 48 airplanes model FA-50 from South Korea.
The stated reason for the FA-50 purchase is that Korea can deliver much faster than any other provider of combat aircraft. Polands Su-22 trainer/light ground attack fleet was basically unusable – the last one was withdrawn from service last year. The Mig-29’s are probably too expensive to keep in the air now due to lack of parts supply. The Poles left buying their replacement way too late, so they had a choice of either paying pilots to sit around for 10 years waiting for a new aircraft, or go Korean.
The ‘unstated’ reason for buying Korean is that it gives the Poles future leverage in either purchasing American or getting involved in one of the surviving Gen 6 European projects. They could go for the Korean Boromae, or keep purchasing F-35’s, or try something different. There is also increasing interest in any two seater aircraft now as they have more potential than single seaters for adoption for one of any number of new loyal wingmen projects. Either way, Lockheed wins, as it has a significant role in the Korea designs.
re: Jerusalem vs. Palestinians – letter
This comment from fb-feed.
Hope it´s ok to post it. It seemed short enough.
Below an older letter to the NYT by Palestinian historian Mike Hanini Odetalla.
His old Web 1.0 site
https://hanini.org/
“(…)
A few years before his death in 2016, Elie Wiesel took out a full page ad in the NY Times to publish his “musings” on Jerusalem in opposition of Palestinians…Below was my response which was sent to him and the Times:
Dear Elie Wiesel: My Response to Your “Musings” on Jerusalem
By Mike Odetalla
Dear Elie,
After reading your “musings” on Jerusalem, published in a costly full-page advertisement in The New York Times and elsewhere, I felt compelled to respond—not as an abstraction, not as a political slogan, but as a son of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Al-Quds—“The Holy”—is not a mythical place to me. It is the city of my birth and the city of my forefathers. My connection to it is not built on legend, propaganda, or selective memory. It is rooted in lived truth.
While your mother may have sung you lullabies about Jerusalem, I took my first steps as a child within its sacred walls, near the grounds of Al-Aqsa. For me, returning to Jerusalem is not symbolism. It is homecoming—though Israel has made even that simple act painfully difficult.
You wrote that Jerusalem is not about real estate, but about memory. But for Palestinians, it has always been about both. It is about homes taken, families expelled, neighborhoods erased, villages emptied, graves made unreachable, and keys still held by refugees who were never allowed to return.
When my children visit Jerusalem and Palestine, they are not visiting a myth. They are walking the land of their ancestors. They can see it in the graves of their forefathers, in the olive trees planted generations ago, in the stones, hills, soil, and memories that no political power can erase.
You claimed that Jews, Christians, and Muslims may freely worship at their shrines, and that all may build homes anywhere in the city. That statement is not merely misleading—it is painfully false.
Millions of Palestinian Christians and Muslims have been cut off from Jerusalem by walls, checkpoints, permits, closures, and a system designed to restrict their movement. Many Palestinians can see Jerusalem from their homes yet cannot reach it. Palestinian families are routinely denied building permits, while homes are demolished and entire communities are pressured, displaced, or erased.
You also wrote as though violence for Jerusalem was alien to Zionism. But Palestinian history tells another story: Deir Yassin, Lifta, and countless other villages bear witness to what was done to create and expand the state that now claims exclusive moral ownership over the land.
My grandmother’s village of Lifta still overlooks Jerusalem, its emptied homes standing as testimony. My grandmother’s grave lies near Damascus Gate, within sight of the Old City walls and the Dome of the Rock, yet many of her descendants cannot freely visit and pray there.
So no, Mr. Wiesel, Jerusalem is not merely about memory. It is about land, power, dispossession, access, and justice. It is about who is allowed to live, build, pray, return, and belong.
Instead of dwelling only in ancient claims, look at what is being done in the present. An entire people is being denied dignity, freedom, and home while myths are used to excuse realities that should shame every person of conscience.
Jerusalem does not belong to propaganda. It does not belong to empire. It does not belong to those who erase others in order to claim it.
It belongs to its people—all of them.
And Palestinians are not ghosts in someone else’s story. We are the living sons and daughters of that land.
Mike Odetalla
A proud true son of Jerusalem
(…)”
re: 4th of July
Eugene Debs: Excerpts from his 4th of 1901 July Speech in Chicago:
via a Eugene Debs Foundation Site
https://debsfoundation.org/
“(…)
“I like the 4th of July. It breathes a spirit of revolution. On this day we reaffirm the ultimate triumph of socialism. It is coming as certain as I stand in your presence.”
“A little over a century ago the inhabitants of this country were not citizens. They were ruled by a foreign king. They petitioned for relief. Their petitions were disregarded. They objected to taxation without representation. Their protests were scorned. Finally they revolted. They issued the Declaration of Independence and enunciated the proposition that men are created equal. But the founders of this republic had only vague conceptions of democracy. The working class as we understand it today were not represented in the Constitutional Convention. The founders of the republic in declaring that men were created equal evidently meant themselves alone. They did not include the negro, who had been brought here against his will and had been reduced to a state of abject slavery. The institution of chattel slavery was already securely established at that time. It was founded in iniquity, yet it did not seemingly disturb the consciences of the founders of the republic. This institution was in conflict with the spirit of the Declaration, with the genius of free institutions, and yet it was incorporated in them. It steadily grew in power, and in course of time it controlled the country and the courts and the life of the people.”
“On this day, commemorating the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was issued. Thousands of orators all over this broad land will glorify the institutions under which we live. In pride they will point toward Old Glory and declare that it is a flag that waves over a free country. In these modern days we hear very much about that flag and about the institutions over which it waves. I am not of those who worship the flag. I have no respect for the stars and stripes, or for any other flag that symbolizes slavery. It does not matter to me what others may think, say, or do. I propose to preserve the integrity of my soul. I will give you a transcript of my mind and tell you precisely what I think. Not very long ago the President of the country [William McKinley], in the attitude of mock heroics, asked who would haul down the flag. I will tell him. Triumphant socialism will haul down that flag and every other that symbolizes capitalist class rule and wage slavery. I am a patriot, but in the sense that I love all countries. I love the sentiment of William L. Garrison: “All the world is my country and all mankind are my countrymen.” Thomas Jefferson once said: “Where liberty is, is my country.” That is good. Thomas Paine said: “Where liberty is honored, that is my country.” That is better. Where liberty is not, socialism has a mission, and, therefore, the mission of socialism is as wide as the world.”
(…)”
p.s. A rather dumbed down entertainment take of a critical view of July 4th is this odd animation feature for kids I assume as an anachronistic biopic-spoof of Washington, mixing in all kinds of movie quotes above all, sigh, Star Wars with King James as an “Emperor” and Benedict Arnold as a “Darth Vader” with the ability to turn into a werewolf, (yes…).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%3A_The_Motion_Picture
“(…)Netflix released America: The Motion Picture in streaming on June 30, 2021.[3][4] It received generally negative reviews from film critics, who criticized it as being unfunny.(…)”
Since it´s 250 years annivers. and it´s so overly strange I thought I call attention to it.
It does have the merit of not taking anything part of the memory culture all too seriously…or tea for that matter…
“The “Middle Class” was a 50-year fluke designed to prevent a communist revolution during the Cold War. Now that the threat is gone, the elites are systematically dismantling it. You aren’t “falling behind”; you’re being pushed back into the peasantry.”
The owners of the US hated the New Deal and set out to overturn it. The end of the USSR gave them the opportunity
“There is no alternative”
And the USA refuses to see that the USSR especially jumped the shark when they tried to automate the administration of their economy.
Agreed, and even the “fluke” itself was a strategy to defang the militant, self-reliant labor movement of the pre-Wagner Act 1930s. As Doug Rushkoff (spot cut) argued in his book, Life, Inc., the suburbs and “the American Dream” were an anti-Communist strategy. As one of the Leavitt brothers, builders of the Leavittowns, said,
Now, I’ll quote myself:
So those who blame the New Left or the 60s counterculture for the demise of the Left, and they are many, have it wrong. The Left they think they remember died years before there was an SDS. It died not because of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, but because of the bowl of porridge offered by the Levitts with the complicity (VA loans, FHA, etc.) of the late New Deal.
Finally! A socialist President!
He periodically does these things to look like he’s strong-arming (you know, because he’s STRONG) business on behalf of The American People. He gets some minor concessions he can wave around (or just lie about), that change very little. Remember this?
https://www.wfyi.org/public-affairs/2020-11-01/four-years-later-trump-carrier-deal-doesnt-slow-offshoring-as-some-had-hoped
Still, an example is an example–
I would argue that this is a small but important part of why liberals hate him. Mostly it’s because he just gleefully exposes the underlying ugliness of everything, but occasionally he provides a momentary, accidental glimpse of what might be possible. It doesn’t take a prodigious imagination to say, “Hey, wait a minute, what if someone acting in good faith, with something like a functional adult attention span, and a competent bureaucracy behind them, tried something like this?”
Of course that is the kind of thing that is simply not done.
One thing I have not seen broadcasted. The pentagon generals appear convinced AI is mission critical. Once they got over that hump OpenAI and Anthropic were too big to fail. There might be a lot of people you would never have thought living on beans and rice and oatmeal before this all blows over.
IIRC OpenAI has a governance structure that is quite problematic for operating as a public company. I don’t know what they’ve done to address that; and rumors of an IPO seem to be just that, merely rumors to keep the CNBC crowd herded into other AI names.
All that is to say that I can see them deciding to forgo the IPO route and let the company become some sort of nationalized defense entity. Perhaps the bailout will take the form of an appropriations rider in the DoD funding bill, essentially sucking them into the defense budget. Passed on a voice vote 2 days before the Christmas holiday, of course.
Thank you for the daily links.
fYI, the story about chinese discounting claude tokens does not link to the right article.
Re: A University Degree is No Longer Worth It Global Geopolitics
Once upon a time people like myself went to university not for the employment or salary prospects but for genuine love of learning and for the subjects we studied. And for myself, studying philosophy was never ever going to increase my employment prospects HOWEVER, it did give me skills which have served me in good stead, given me an edge throughout my entire career in the corporate world. But in any case, for the vast majority of disciplines a university degree was never supposed to be practical or tied to occupation, that was what college was for. That was once upon a time.
Re: “The cost of heat: Why Europe’s economy is melting
From damaged roads to soaring power prices, scorching summer weather is exacting a heavy economic toll on the EU“
I hope someone over there steps onto one of those aforementioned roads, experiences the radiant heat reflection, and lo, comes to the realization that perhaps roads are precisely part of the problem, a reason for climate change, one of the causes of the heatwave.