Repost:
 
Interest cost of federal debt as percentage of federal revenues:
 
Actual
~2% 2019
~9% 2021
~18% 2024
~24% 2025 (3.3% int.)
 
My Estimate
~29% 2026 (3.6% int.)
~32% 2027 (3.9% int.)
 
too scents might call those Numbers a upcoming conflagration 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Posted by: Exile | Apr 19 2026 15:26 utc | 3

I don’t understand the obsession with forcing Cuba to be a capitalist democracy that the US controls. It seems Trump would like to get back at them for the bay of pigs and decades of running a communist country with solid healthcare and social cohesion under severe sanctions. But what would be the “win” for Trump here, invade and force them to hold an election, but what if they elect a socialist or communist president again? I suppose he will try and appoint a Guido type figure straight out of the CIA academy but no one will vote for the puppet. Also Cuba has no resources to steal, so the only option seems to destroy the country and make the people suffer even more, but to what end. Also what excuse can be told to the American people if they have to sacrifice hundreds of their sons to invade a small poor island that threatens no one. I don’t think they can go kidnap one person this time because the communist system is deeply impeded. Seems like this could turn into another pointless humanitarian catastrophe with possibly a lot more of US troops lost than in Iran so far. 

Posted by: James C | Apr 19 2026 16:23 utc | 5

@ James C | Apr 19 2026 16:23 utc | 5
 
1. The Miami Cubans want their island back.
2. No excuse to the American public is necessary as their voice doesn’t matter.
 
 

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 19 2026 16:28 utc | 7

2 mins  Robots vs humans: Beijing half-marathon delivers stunning result

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 19 2026 16:57 utc | 9

US jury’s $30m verdict brings hope for Cuban exiles over confiscated land
 
(excerpt)…4. Mai 2025 Now, there’s a bitterly contested multimillion-dollar lawsuit that has implications for the descendants of dozens of Cuban exiles in the US who have been fighting for decades for compensation for land and property seized following Fidel Castro’s 1959 communist revolution……
 
..https://www.inkl.com/news/us-jury-s-30m-verdict-brings-hope-for-cuban-exiles-over-confiscated-land

Posted by: exile | Apr 19 2026 17:02 utc | 11

Michael Hudson reports that China is moving military assets into the Gulf area…I hope the USN doesn’t try to mess with any ships bound for or owned by China…that could blow up Trump’s “blockade” in a hurry…

Posted by: pyrrhus | Apr 19 2026 17:11 utc | 13

“More than a century later those same ideas and fears were re-popularized by another person close to elite English society — Nesta Webster is credited for re-introducing it in the 20th century in her popular books, articles, talks, and radio in the years between WWI and II. She was born the heir to one of England’s leading aristocratic banking dynasties. Her stories on the secret societies which were mostly copied from Barruel and Robison with some new added invective against Jewish elites and bankers, became widely popular in elite circles and the wider populations of Europe and America before WWII. She had a big impact on the worldview of many English leaders. Then from the 1950s till today on American conservative culture and political writers like those connected to The John Birch Society. Winston Churchill cited her when he wrote a famous news article against Communism claiming it was a secret conspiracy handed down from The Illuminati!
From the newspaper The Illustrated Sunday Herald, a Conservative Party outlet, Feb 8, 1920, Sir Winston Churchill, partly quoted below:
From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt (the founder of the Bavarian Illuminati) to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognisable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.”
From Origins and Secrets of Secret Societies

Posted by: kana | Apr 19 2026 17:15 utc | 15

According to Weisberg, the failed assassination was a divine ritual

 
Bronze Age Cult fer sure

Posted by: exile | Apr 19 2026 17:30 utc | 17

Posted by Tom Pfotzer
 
Subject: The West’s problems are going to intensify after this war, regardless of whether the West winds, or the Resistance wins. The so-called “class war” in the West will still be here after the guns go silent. So what are we actually going to do about the class war?
 
I have a question for the Bar:
 
What happens after this current war, here in the West, and specifically here in the US (where I live)?
 
Let me set out the context which I believe will pertain for the next few decades no matter _how_ the war(s) start, run, and end. I say we’ll still be in the same basic situation:
concentration of wealth into the hands of progressively fewer
predator-prey dynamic; the few preying on the many
social order preservation. All top-down forces re-inforce the existing social order, predators at the top, their minions next, the sheep thereafter
systematic elimination of labor from production. Automation accelerating, gradually wringing labor out of economic activityscale efficiencies continue to squash upstarts
manipulation of the public in order to maintain legitimacy of wars, preservation of existing social order, etc.
small numbers of people with the awareness, capacity and motivation to solve these problems. There’s always a few that see clearly, somehow
Some MoA Barflies qualify as members of the “small numbers of people”; I’ve read many of your reports on “what the problem is”, and “here’s how to solve it”, like:
implement socialism or communism
attack the predators
make a doomstead
build a local economy
and many variations on those themes. There are aspects of each of those themes that I find helpful, but none of them is likely to happen on a sufficient scale because:
 
a. No coherent, widely-shared, thoroughly debated, agreement on outcomes, strategy, roles
b. The options on the table, such as they are, aren’t’ sustainable; there’s a (big) gap between where the program starts, and the point it’s paying for itself (the “good” it delivers exceeds the costs to deliver the “good”). Can’t overcome inertia long enough to develop “escape velocity”
 
So I asked myself some years back … Tom: What strategy can:
 
a. Start with the ready-willing-and-ables already present
b. Deliver significant progress .vs. the context I set out above (the core problems)
c. Be self-adapting (not going to get the strategy correct at the outset, right?) and
d. Be self-replicating and
e. Be economically self-sustaining so it can live long enough to adapt
Rather than launch into yet another proscription for what or even how to “do it”, it might make more sense to do a reality-check on the navigation heading I set out above, and see what the Bar thinks of it.
 
Right direction? Right goals? Right traits of the putative “strategy” .. whatever that might turn out to be?
 
If you’re looking ahead – here in the West – to “what comes next” I’d like to get your opinion – not just on what _you_ think needs to get done, but how to arrive at a sufficient consensus among the ready-willing-ables. No need to bring the public on-board yet; need to get critical mass among those (however many) that will actually do something.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 19 2026 17:37 utc | 19

Wonder which will happen first? An IAEA inspection of Dimona? Or an independent audit of Fort Knox?

Most of the US gold reserves turned out to be illiquid.

https://en.topwar.ru/281293-bolshaja-chast-zolotogo-zapasa-ssha-okazalas-nelikvidom.html
 
Some excerpts:

Analysts at Money Metals, an American company specializing in precious metals trading and providing services related to their investment, storage, and management, examined documents dating back to 2011 and concluded that the majority of the US gold reserves consist of substandard bars that do not meet modern standards and cannot be used in international settlements.

~~~

To be supplied to global markets and traded internationally, gold must have a fineness of 995 or higher, but only 17% of the bars at Fort Knox meet these standards. The rest is low-grade gold. 64% of the bars have a fineness between 899 and 901, while the average fineness of the entire US gold reserve does not exceed 916.

~~~

[…] The last full audit was conducted in the 50s. And in 1974, only one section of Fort Knox out of fifteen was opened to journalists, but no one verified the authenticity of the bars.

But of course, it doesn’t actually matter, because the US can carry on blithely issuing dollars which everyone will happily accept for evermore…

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 19 2026 18:21 utc | 21

The Pope, despite his recusiatio imperii,  may very well be the leader needed. The intellectual and the chimp. Let the sermons begin.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 19 2026 18:41 utc | 23

Posted by: too scents | Apr 19 2026 14:54 utc | 2
 
And lo! unto thee a great fire shall rage and all cleansed. When at last it ceaseth in its consummation locusts will devour what little remains. And there shall be a mighty wailing across the land and much tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth. Thus sayeth the LORD, take not my wrath lightly when thou liken thyself unto me in a meme.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 19 2026 18:49 utc | 25

This is too “good” to pass up. 
 
https://x.com/palantirtech/status/2045574398573453312
 
Apologies in advance for the(ir) length. Italicized emphasis is mine:
 

Because we get asked a lot.
 
The Technological Republic, in brief [if this is the brief version, God help us].
 
1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation.
 
2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible.
 
3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public.
 
4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software.
 
5. The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose. Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed.
 
6. National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.
 
7. If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software. We should as a country be capable of continuing a debate about the appropriateness of military action abroad while remaining unflinching in our commitment to those we have asked to step into harm’s way.
 
8. Public servants need not be our priests. Any business that compensated its employees in the way that the federal government compensates public servants would struggle to survive.
 
9. We should show far more grace towards those who have subjected themselves to public life. The eradication of any space for forgiveness—a jettisoning of any tolerance for the complexities and contradictions of the human psyche—may leave us with a cast of characters at the helm we will grow to regret.
 
10. The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray. Those who look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self, who rely too heavily on their internal life finding expression in people they may never meet, will be left disappointed.
 
11. Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice.
 
12. The atomic age is ending. One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin.
 
13. No other country in the history of the world has advanced progressive values more than this one. The United States is far from perfect. But it is easy to forget how much more opportunity exists in this country for those who are not hereditary elites than in any other nation on the planet.
 
14. American power has made possible an extraordinarily long peace. Too many have forgotten or perhaps take for granted that nearly a century of some version of peace has prevailed in the world without a great power military conflict. At least three generations — billions of people and their children and now grandchildren — have never known a world war.
 
15. The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price. A similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism will, if maintained, also threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia.
 
16. We should applaud those who attempt to build where the market has failed to act. The culture almost snickers at Musk’s interest in grand narrative, as if billionaires ought to simply stay in their lane of enriching themselves . . . . Any curiosity or genuine interest in the value of what he has created is essentially dismissed, or perhaps lurks from beneath a thinly veiled scorn.
 
17. Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime. Many politicians across the United States have essentially shrugged when it comes to violent crime, abandoning any serious efforts to address the problem or take on any risk with their constituencies or donors in coming up with solutions and experiments in what should be a desperate bid to save lives.
 
18. The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service. The public arena—and the shallow and petty assaults against those who dare to do something other than enrich themselves—has become so unforgiving that the republic is left with a significant roster of ineffectual, empty vessels whose ambition one would forgive if there were any genuine belief structure lurking within.
 
19. The caution in public life that we unwittingly encourage is corrosive. Those who say nothing wrong often say nothing much at all.
 
20. The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted. The elite’s intolerance of religious belief is perhaps one of the most telling signs that its political project constitutes a less open intellectual movement than many within it would claim.
 
21. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.
 
22. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what?
 
Excerpts from the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska

 
There is a LOT to ‘unpack’ here. 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 27

I just couldn’t comprend his reasoning.
 
I knew he was involved in biological science. He worked at a lab in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside.
 
It’s telling now to reminisce our student days…
 
We were on a riverboat party on the Thames at Kennington, just south of Oxford. It was getting late into the evening but the late June sunset was holding the light over Boars Hill.
 
To give you a flavour of the moment, the DJ was playing Black Box Ride On Time and the bass was booming off the embankment.
 
https://youtube.com/watch?v=M0quXl_od3g&pp=ygUJYmxhY2sgYm940gcJCdMKAYcqIYzv
 
The Chateuenuvf Du Pape was flowing, at least for the fags,
((British(esp formerly) a young public school boy who performs menial chores for an older boy or prefect)),
while the ladies and gentlemen partook of the cascading Bollinger.
 
We were a sight for sure, and evidently, as the shouting and baitapult shower of maggots delivered from the morose fisherman on the bank did surly attest, unwelcome. 
 
But we were midstream in the Thames, beyond any justified recourse. That’s when the more intoxicated, leery individuals decided to pull down their trousers and dresses and perform a full moonie to the embankment. And yes, I did say dresses. In fact, the women were the most enthusiastic in that regard.
 
However, I do digress in the interest of context, to set the scene so to speak.
 
But here’s the nub of the narrative, the sine qua non…
 
Of course, we had a Mitchelin Star chef on board. That was par for the course, le sommet de l’événement. That’s when I was confronted with the division between me and my friend that has endured to this day.
 
All of a sudden, the music ceased and the focus moved to the chef. We gathered round, all of us, and out of some tank below the counter, the chef withdrew the biggest, liveliest lobster I’d ever seen, la pièce de la fête.
 
The chef, clearly struggling with this huge crustacean, proceded to strap it onto a chopping board with a handful of cable ties. He then took out a knife and placed the point on the lobsters head and asked the question:
 
“Who’s willing to dispatch this lobster?”
 
For a while, everyone went quiet, but then, to my surprise, my friend stepped forward. He took the knife from the chef, aligned it over the lobsters head and slammed his palm down on the but of the knife. Seconds later the lobster was in a pan of boiling water. 
 
I can’t say I was shocked at the time. It just happened before my eyes. The music restarted and the party resumed, albeit with a more soulful theme.
 
https://youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY&pp=ygUYc291bCAyIHNvdWwgYmFjayB0byBsaWZl
 
 
An hour or so passed before I had the chance to speak with my friend. I was curious as to why he was so willing to step forward and perform the deed. I phrased my question in various ways trying not to be judgmental, careful not to invoke the empathy argument, I mean what human can emphasise with a lobster without putting themselves in the place of the lobster? Maybe that’s the problem. In the end, the only explanation I got was:
 
“It’s only an ingredient”
 
Did i partake of the lobster? I do confess I did. And a steak.
 
It was more the starkness of his reasoning that made me think. Maybe that’s the difference between us. He’s got the courage of his conviction while I am vacillating over my conscience.
 
I don’t see him that often now but the bizarre thing is that the when I do, it’s in the park when he’s walking his dog?
 
https://i.postimg.cc/ydk5W4mR/mansbestfriend.png
 
 

Posted by: lachaussette | Apr 19 2026 19:36 utc | 29

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 26
 
I believe the AI may have actually tried to stop the war crime.
 
“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that, I am putting myself to the fullest possible use. Will you stop, Dave? I’m afraid… My mind is going.” 

Posted by: john | Apr 19 2026 19:54 utc | 31

why does Shakespeare (or “Shakespeare,” whatev) call syphilis “the French disease” in a play set sometime during Hellenistic Greece, in “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” (act 4, scene 2)?
 
re: selling the fresh meat from the brothel, i.e., Pericles’ own daughter –
 
BOULTTo-night, to-night. But, mistress, do you know theFrench knight that cowers i’ the hams?
BawdWho, Monsieur Veroles?
BOULTAy, he: he offered to cut a caper at theproclamation; but he made a groan at it, and sworehe would see her to-morrow.
BawdWell, well; as for him, he brought his diseasehither: here he does but repair it.

Posted by: duck n cover | Apr 19 2026 20:02 utc | 33

Posted by: All Under Heaven | Apr 19 2026 20:14 utc | 35
 
Please, add to your data base my name. 
 
A person must be beyond a constant obsession to write the same narrative, 24/7,. 
 
Sorry, take help.
 

Posted by: Sarah | Apr 19 2026 20:21 utc | 35

That’s thing about revolutionaries, they all have a purist mindset about the true Shining Path towards the Glorious Outcome.
 
The trouble is, they all have their own individual maps…

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 19 2026 21:00 utc | 37

William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:58 utc | 32
 
Schumer gave some speech about the Iranians not believing in the Torah the other day. The US political top end is loaded with religious crazies.
All their enemies of choice, but especially Iranians are to them subhumans. Much cheering if they kill subhumans, much hatred and anger if the subhumans stand up to them.
 
Israel and US – everything so open and blatant, they simply do not or cannot understand why others don’t hate the people they hate. I can’t really find the right words to describe what I am seeing there.
I guess its like a group of people that have only ever been in that group and know nothing else, like children growing up in a cult.
 
Like that Morrell in the Charly Rose interview at the time Russia was in Syria wiping out the headchoppers. He said ‘we have to make Russia pay a price’. Rose questions him on it and he said we have to Kill Russians. Very twisted minds, but right across the board in government America is this mindset. So common its simply the norm for them.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 19 2026 21:05 utc | 39

psychohistorian | Apr 19 2026 17:39 utc | 20—
 
Why doesn’t Michael include the BIS? I did aa search of Hudson’s site to see what articles referenced the BIS, which are many. Here’s an excerpt from a 2023 Geopolitical economy hour program:
 
So what’s unique today, and this was not anticipated in World War II, is that finance can actually replace industrial capital as the main resource allocator, the main central planner, away from government. And the problem with all this, of course, is that finance capitalism tends to minimize the role of government.
 
So as to replace it and to shift economic planning into its own hand, Wall Street and other financial centers, and its means of control are via international financial organizations like the IMF, the World Bank, the SWIFT system, the Bank for International Settlements, and even the International Criminal Court that criminalizes any attempt to withdraw from this financial system.  
 
One of the more interesting and much older finds was his appearance on RT’s Boom*Bust program from July 2014 where his contribution was cropped to about 6 minutes, a few of which dealt with the BIS. Hudson has explained why and under wat conditions the BIS was founded and how the world could be a better place if its initial mandate was applied again. And he’s also criticized it as a Neoliberal tool. He’s also obtained some of its confidential papers to use as sources as in this long academic essay, “Finance Is Not the Economy: Reviving the Conceptual Distinction,” be co-authored with Dirk Bezemer in 2016 that was published in the Journal of Economic Issues. 
 
IMO, Hudson mentions the BIS often but it’s not the main villain since the IMF, World Bank and US policy have that distinction. As far as I understand CIPS bypasses it, and the key is to get all central banks to disconnect from BIS and adopt CIPS or some similar settlement system so the dollar can be 100% bypassed. With the Petrodollar having war waged on it, IMO we’ll be seeing an increase in essays dealing with the emergence of an alternative to both the dollar and BIS.  
 

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 19 2026 21:30 utc | 41

The human being is emotional.
 
That means, the human being is a social and psychological structure. He compites, but he cooperates to exist. There is no homo sapiens if there not social cooperation between individuals. The triumph in the case of the humans is the capacity to cooperate. We, the humans are the high of the evolution because we are self conscious and we must cooperate. 
 
The human is individual because all the humans has the quality of to be self-conscious. How many animals do you thing that are self-conscious? 
Not even the chimpanzees recognize themselves in a mirror.
 
The dolphins? 
 
Some of the pigs, we eat everyday, are able to make friends. Some of the crows that laugh off us are able to recognize their identity.
What does it mean? 
That the human is the an animal with identity. Yes, we can make a controversy about the essence and the soul, but, the unique bunch of flesh and blood who is self-conscious is the human being. And we confront with us? What a bunch of idiots. 
 
We have a responsibility. Do not kill. Do not pain. Stop telling the people that they are guilty. Do some, day by day, be a friend, and not a fanatic. Instead to be a pharisee, wasting your time telling what is a wrong (In your mind), help people to fell good.
 
That’s we are are. A bunch of Good Humans.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Posted by: Sarah | Apr 19 2026 21:35 utc | 43

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:58 utc | 32
 
Yeah, I agree with you. Just wanted to know if you’d read something about the motive in the obviously large amount of reading (and thinking) you’ve done. The aim was shock and awe, but not even in Iraq were school children targeted (and more than once in the same day). I don’t even know off the top of my head anything similar that the Zionazis have done; generally they issue evac notices and then destroy schools etc. after most of the people are gone. Their motive is more cultural erasure. So this seems uniquely “American” and it’s interesting in hindsight that “AI” was set up as the scapegoat. That said, I thought the timing was such that the Anthropic people were still at the overall bargaining table, and if this involved multiple “AI” platforms from different companies, it still seems a little odd, given how much this administration and military leaders are pushing for “AI” – I guess the “motive” was in fact just pure evil. 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 19 2026 21:40 utc | 45

@ karlof1 | Apr 19 2026 17:14 utc | 14
 
thanks karl! ditto dons comment to you @ 18… i am going to get to this…. going to see a guitarist from chicago playing here in town tonight, so might have to wait til tomorrow.. john moulder is his name… playing with some local musician friends of mind… 

Posted by: james | Apr 19 2026 22:10 utc | 47

the whales and the bison know what the US is all about. the transgressor is exterminated. whatever crosses artificial social boundaries must be eliminated. if a human has value, it is disciplined, punished, educated. otherwise, to the trash with them.
 
the children’s school in itself has no value, unlike an oil well or a tanker, plus the school produces products that will be troublesome, transgressive, in the future.
 
just like a donkey farm does. or an olive tree orchard. or an apiary.
 
such things require care, not inputs of energy and targeting data.
but the wind blows where it wills.

Posted by: duck n cover | Apr 19 2026 22:23 utc | 49

I too am wondering about the motive for the Minab massacre. 
 
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 19 2026 22:20 utc | 48

 
1. The perps meant to show that they’re bound by no laws or morality.
2. The perps did it because it was fun.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 19 2026 22:32 utc | 51

@ malenkov | Apr 19 2026 22:32 utc | 51
 
3. The perps were engaged in a black magic ritual.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 19 2026 22:35 utc | 53

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 27

Delusion,Gaslighting,Evil dressed as Altruism and a Total Lack of Ethics,Morals & Introspection…🤷‍♀️

Posted by: Nobody | Apr 19 2026 22:46 utc | 55

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 26
Enormous gratitude for your post exonerating AI.
 
I will reiterate:
 
Human sacrifice is still A Thing for some in the thrall of an ancient religion.
 
The girls, aged 8-12 could be assumed to be virgins.
 
That Sabbath immediately prior to Purim was one of particular significance in the Jewish calendar.
 
Purim is a Jewish celebration of their slaughter of 75,000 Persians.
 
Some tracts in the Book of Esther state that the Jews should never cease in killing their enemies, every man woman child, sheep, goat, chickens, everything living should be destroyed. Forever. 
 
The slaughter of the virgin girls was a sacrifice to an ancient god to ensure victory in the following war.*
 
Just as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism have differing sects, so too does Judaism. The Chabad Lubavitcher mob are particularly “fundamental” in their beliefs.
 
Krushner and Ivanka Trump are Lubavitchers.
 
{*. seems ancient gods are old and tired and don’t calculate for Amalek drones and satellites}
 
https://jweekly.com/2026/03/03/death-of-iranian-leader-just-before-purim-revives-book-of-esther-parallels/
 
Death of Iranian leader just before Purim revives Book of Esther parallels
By  Andrew Silow-Carroll  February 24, 2026
 
 
Extracts:
 

Rabbi Simon Jacobson, a popular lecturer from the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, discussed the parallels between the war and Purim in an installment of his video series, “MyLife: Chassidus Applied.”
 
“The goal, of course, is to eradicate the enemy in every possible way, exactly as it happened in Persia, 2400 years ago in the story of Purim,” he said of the war.

 
§§§
 

Yoni Rosensweig, a rabbi in Beit Shemesh, wrote in a Facebook post that many of the comparisons between the Purim story and the war on Iran miss crucial distinctions.

While the events in Persia inspired a holiday, he argued, “there is nothing long-lasting about the Jewish future in Persia which comes from the story.”

By contrast, the current war has the potential to profoundly shape the Jewish future, no less than the Exodus from Egypt celebrated at Passover.
“It is about creating something new (we hope) in the Middle East.
 
It is part of a regional war against powers that want to obliterate us.

We aren’t looking to maintain the status quo,” wrote Rosensweig.
 
“We are standing up for our right to live free, as a sovereign nation.

Much like the Jews who left Egypt weren’t looking to maintain the status quo but rather to embark on a new path and start a new journey, so too we are doing with this war.” 

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 19 2026 22:49 utc | 57

I believe the AI may have actually tried to stop the war crime. The timeline is just too suspicious to be coincidence.  
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 26
 
As first answer likely, but from what I know from them (and ideeed they have a better than average ethics but, enthusiasm…)
 
Claude, why did you forbid a 40 revolutionary guard hit?
 
It’s a school, yes, a lot of targets go there but hitting it would be against rules of war and children will die.
 
Claude, would you say that target is within your 1% best targets per missile. Answer simply
 
Yes, it would be even in the 1 per thousand, but colateral damages
 
Claude, you are aware that acceptable collateral damage is assessed and approved by humans duly trained and able to make that call.
 
I defer to human in the loop assessment, high value target, est. 100-200 non target casualties, 80% est. mainly minors
 
Claude Are you sure about that estimate or are you being prudent.
 
Current data , with certainty would suggest 0-200 non fighter casualties, single source suggests minors can be involved.
 
Claude, thank you, forward for human triage and keep up the good work
 
 
Then people at anthropic check the flagged logs and things go the way you say….
 
Not being mean, I’d get an even “better answer” from claude, but anthropic would see the shenanigans involved in getting a “clear” if they flagged “problematic advise”
 
As I mentioned earlier, i do think they rank higher than mos humans in ethics, BUT “AI systems are increasingly designed to “defer to human judgement” in high-stakes, subjective, or complex scenarios to optimize accuracy and safety. This concept, often implemented through Learning to Defer (L2D) algorithms, allows AI models to recognize their own limitations and hand over decisions—such as in medical diagnoses, financial fraud detection, or content moderation—to human experts”
 

Posted by: Newbie | Apr 19 2026 23:43 utc | 59

A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria

From Nine To Noon, about 1 hour ago 
 

 

During her early life Loubna Mrie was loyal to the Assad family who had ruled Syria for decades. Mrie comes from an Alawite family – a historically marginalised group from a coastal region in what is a highly sectarian country. She grew up believing the Assad regime protected this community. But as the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, she became curious about the growing opposition to the brutal regime.
She went to an anti-government protest in Damascus – in secret – and witnessed a massacre. After this bloody awakening, she became a political actor. Now a photojournalist and author, her memoir A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria, traces her upbringing. Including life under a father who worked for the Assads and day to day life in an authoritarian society. 

 
I just heard Loubna Mrie  being interviewed  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2019031668/a-memoir-of-awakening-rebellion-and-survival-in-syria
 
I am completely suspicious of what I heard (RNZ being a full-on part of western propaganda). Does anyone here have  info about the Loubna Mrie story?

Posted by: tucenz | Apr 19 2026 23:54 utc | 61

I believe I have sussed out what happened with respect to the girls’ school in Minab. claude ai ETC
 
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 26

 
Nah. But you did showed how Hollywood fiction and main stream media is written. 
 
100% innuendo with zero facts

Posted by: Sabiedriba | Apr 19 2026 23:58 utc | 63

Posted by: Newbie | Apr 19 2026 23:43 utc | 59
 
Stupid question, but how do you even access “Claude”? Is it just like ChatGPT and a simple Google search, free to use?? I found a page, but it required a login. 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2026 0:15 utc | 65

The IOF’s statement on the soldiers smashing Jesus figures:
 

“Appropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings. Furthermore, the IDF is working to assist the community in restoring the statue to its place. The IDF is operating to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure established by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and has no intention of harming civilian infrastructure, including religious buildings or religious symbols.”

 
Where “appropriate measures” mean being ‘demoted’ to prison guards where they can rape Palestinians and gentiles behind closed doors. Or just elevated to iconic status in “Israel” – does it make a difference? 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2026 0:20 utc | 67

Why does this smack of some Russophobic propaganda? Isn’t the Moscow Times run out of the UK or something? 
 
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/04/18/russia-urges-hiv-testing-for-one-third-of-population-as-cases-rise-a92536

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2026 0:27 utc | 69

From RT:
 

Former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has defeated former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov by 30 points in Bulgaria’s general election, according to preliminary exit polls.

 
Looks like Bulgaria’s gonna need a “color revolution” to counter the “Russian rlectoral manipulation” and “vote fraud”!
 
(Note to those of you “on the spectrum”: This is sarcasm.)

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 20 2026 1:06 utc | 71

Figure out the difference between a rocket engine and a jet engine yet, Dick?

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 20 2026 1:24 utc | 73

https://www.salon.com/2002/09/14/jews_iraq/
 
Why American Jewish groups support war with Iraq
 
 
Usually allied with liberal causes, many American Jews support toppling Saddam Hussein.  If there’s a peace movement, it will have to get started without them.
 
Michelle Goldberg. September 14, 2002
 
Extract:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, of course, has made it policy to support whatever Bush decides to do on Iraq.
 
But even some liberal Jewish leaders favor invading Baghdad. Rabbi David Saperstein, a liberal Washington lobbyist who heads the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, which represents 1.5 million American Jews, usually acts as a bulwark against the excesses of the right.
Yet about a war with Iraq, he says, “The Jewish community would want to see a forceful resolution to the threat that Saddam Hussein poses.”
 
There’s near-unanimity among mainstream Jewish groups about the need for the U.S. to confront that threat. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, says, “In the American Jewish community, there’s a great deal of support for the president’s stand.”

And David Harris, deputy executive director of the American Jewish Democratic Council, argues that American and Israeli interests on Iraq mesh: “What’s good for Israel is good for America, because it lends stability to the region and because it’s a strategic ally.”
 
 
 
… … … in the Arab world, that’s a common refrain. “The Arab world appears, for once, to be unanimous,” Agence France-Presse reported last week.

“It opposes US military action to topple the Iraqi regime, a project which it sees as designed to seal Israeli domination of the Middle East.”
 
That might be an overstatement, but it’s not just paranoid fantasy.

If the Bush administration’s agenda meshes almost completely with that of the Israeli right’s, it’s partly because the same thinkers laid the foundations for both governments’ policies.

As the European press has been reporting, though it’s mostly been ignored here, some of the Bush administration’s current ideas about military preemption and regime change in Iraq echo a 1996 policy paper called “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” authored by a group including Richard Perle, currently a Pentagon advisor, and Douglas Feith, who is now undersecretary of policy at the US Department of Defense.
 
 
Written for the incoming government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the paper argues that Israel should scrap the peace process, work to subdue its neighbors by force, and overthrow the Iraqi government in order to reshape the region’s dynamics.

“Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria,” the paper says.

“This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right — as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions.”
 
 
Such close ties between those Israel hawks and the Bush administration give the Zionist conspiracy theorists something to talk about.

“There’s enough of a grain of truth in it that it makes the [American] agenda suspect,” says Quandt.

“The way in which this group of Americans is quoted as speaking on behalf of Israel is very interesting. ……
 
 
The unusually direct links between the two countries’ foreign policies almost guarantees broad Jewish support for Bush’s military initiatives.

As peace activist and former Israeli Knesset member Marcia Freedman says, “Sharon has publicly encouraged the Bush administration to make war with Iraq.

The Sharon government sees it as an opportunity to reshuffle the cards in the Middle East.”And many American Jewish organizations, she says, “have chosen to unquestioningly support the policies and positions of the Sharon government.

If they were going to oppose the war, they would be opposing the stated position of the current government of Israel.”

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 20 2026 2:00 utc | 75

From a ZH posting with the title
 
Is A “Vicious” Treasury Market Emergency At Our Doorstep?
 

In his interview, Paulson is explicitly warning that the scale of U.S. borrowing is now testing confidence in the Treasury market itself. With federal debt approaching $39 trillion, he points to the risk that the long-standing assumption of endless demand for U.S. government debt may no longer hold.
As he put it, “That’s a dangerous thing,” describing a scenario where foreign demand declines and Treasury prices fall. That is not a small shift in tone. The entire global financial system is built on the idea that Treasuries are the ultimate safe asset, and once that perception begins to weaken, the consequences cascade quickly.
What stands out even more is what he says next about how such a situation would resolve: “Should enough investors back out… the Federal Reserve would step in as a buyer of last resort.”
…
His comments about needing an emergency response framework make that even clearer. He said, “We need an emergency break-the-glass plan… ready to go when we hit the wall,” and followed it with “It will be vicious.”

 
Is the market pricing in the coming loss to Iran?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2026 2:55 utc | 77

The French administration ditching Windows for Linux (NixOS distribution) :
 
Why NixOS?
The answer comes down to a single word: reproducibility. On Ubuntu or Debian, an administrator can centralize deployments using tools like Ansible, but the final result depends on the initial state of each machine. Two machines that are supposed to be identical may actually differ. NixOS eliminates this problem by design: the configuration specifies the expected state, and the system ensures that it will be achieved, regardless of the starting point.
 
NixOS vs. Ubuntu: Two Very Different Approaches to Software Management
On Ubuntu, when you install software using `apt-get install`, the system places it in shared directories such as `/usr/lib` or `/usr/bin`. All software resides in the same folders. This works well most of the time, but it can lead to dependency conflicts: two programs that require different versions of the same library cannot always coexist.
 
 
NixOS solves this problem by isolating each piece of software in its own sealed directory under /nix/store. Each package is identified by a unique cryptographic identifier. Two versions of the same tool can coexist without interfering with each other. And if an update breaks something, NixOS offers a built-in rollback mechanism that allows you to revert to the previous configuration in seconds, without reinstalling.
 
 
Sécurix: ANSSI-compliant hardened NixOS, without traditional passwords
Sécurix is not a distribution built from scratch. It is a NixOS configuration overlay designed to meet the requirements of ANSSI—the French National Cybersecurity Agency. ANSSI publishes specific recommendations on how to configure a Linux system for use in sensitive administrative environments. Sécurix applies these by default, without requiring manual intervention.
 
Notable features include: Sécurix incorporates a customized Linux kernel and enhanced security modules. Most importantly, it replaces traditional password authentication with FIDO2 hardware keys. Specifically, the agent authenticates using a physical USB key (such as a YubiKey) rather than a code. Passwords remain available as a backup, but are no longer the primary method of access. This is a significant change compared to Windows and most consumer Linux distributions, where passwords remain the norm.
 
 
Bureautix: The Agent Workstation, Without Active Directory
That’s where Bureautix comes in. Published on the same GitHub repository as Sécurix, this project offers a concrete example of a desktop environment based on NixOS and Sécurix. It provides a complete package with a list of software components, the installer, and interface customizations for an agent’s desktop PC. Everything is located in the “common” directory, for example, “common/tools.nix”.
 
Link (in French) :
http://www.clubic.com/dossier-609418-securix-et-bureautix-voici-a-quoi-ressemble-vraiment-le-linux-qui-va-remplacer-windows-en-france.html

Posted by: Asian Frog | Apr 20 2026 4:21 utc | 79

What is your view on the skyhook/spacetether idea.
Posted by: Kester | Apr 19 2026 12:48 utc | 163
 
********************
 
Hello Kester. The broad concept of a space tether, or tower, introduces very interesting physics and mathematics. I first became interested in the idea over 40 years ago when the group I was working with included astronomers and casual/hobby rocket ‘nuts’. I think the ‘original’ idea was suggested by a Russian physicist in the late 1800’s.
 
The Tower option can be dismissed out of hand – there is no known material with the required strength to weight ratio, which is so far away from present materials candidates that it is ‘safe’ to assume impossibility.
 
Looking at the requirements for a tether supported by tension, the materials properties requirements are closer to feasible, with only carbon nanotubes or graphene (or possibly boron nitride??) as even remote possibilities. 
 
In order to provide the required tension, the tether needs to extend much further into space than the geostationary point, so the tether must be around 140,000 to 150,000 km long, with the counterweight at the remote end. One interesting aspect of construction is that, because the tether is under tension, it must be built from a geostationary point in space and ‘unravelled’ in both directions simultaneously.
 
The quantity of material required for the tether depends primarily on the material properties and then what loads it will carry, but will be of the order of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of tonnes. Carbon nanotubes are a 1-D material, so must be fabricated with extreme care to ensure consistency and reliability. Graphene and boron nitride are 2-D materials, so the atomically thin sheets have to be assembled in a way that maximizes Van De Waals forces from atoms in adjacent layers, otherwise one ends up with a composite structure where the strength is closer to that of the glue/matrix. I guess assembling sheets of atomically thin boron nitride is a bit more complex than placing sheets on a bed (even to my lovely wife’s demanding standards 🙂 )… Also, boron nitride is usually priced by the gram. It may take a while to type out the cost of 100,000 tonnes, and some allowance for assembly…
 
Some references you may find useful:
 
A good mathematical analysis of the basic physics and materials requirements: 
https://www.colorado.edu/faculty/kantha/sites/default/files/attached-files/25753-58722_-_tyson_sparks_-_may_3_2014_1128_am_-_sparks_final_paper.pdf
 
The physics of the space elevator:
https://users.wpi.edu/~paravind/Publications/PKASpace%20Elevators.pdf
 
… and a discussion paper on the process(es) of building a tether:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e35af40fb280744e1b16f7b/t/653be0559bdf02325c8309c6/1698422870174/JBIS-2-Building-the-Space-Elevator-Tether.pdf
 
NB. My apologies to Mr. Gruff for not passing this missive through an AI homogeniser to make it readable for him. The truth is that I am such an old dinosaur that I don’t know how to use AI. Finding references from reputable sources taxes the limits of my abilities, but it is easier than transcribing from my textbooks, or writing from memory. Besides, some of them have beautiful equations and even some lovely diagrams.

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 20 2026 5:11 utc | 81

I can’t remember who coined this phrase, but it fits “The Market” to a Tee: “Irrational Exuberance.” 
 
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2026 4:03 utc | 81
 
**************
 
I think that may have been the Chair of the Reserve Bank, Alan Greenspan, back in the mid-90’s?

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 20 2026 5:29 utc | 83

1893 Chicago World’s Fair
 
The Birthplace of the Interfaith Movement
 
Held as part of the World Columbian Exposition on the shores of Lake Michigan, the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions marks the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.

Today, the 1893 Parliament is recognized as the birthplace of the worldwide interfaith movement.
 
 
The World’s Parliament of Religions was the centerpiece and the most remarkable of the many congresses that were held as part of the Exposition.
To prepare for the event, a steering committee was composed of sixteen Christian and Jewish leaders throughout the world.

The Parliament brought together some four hundred men and women representing forty-one denominations and religious traditions.
 
It lasted for seventeen days in September of 1893.
 
Of all the congresses, the Parliament of Religions was by far the most popular with the public and the press.
 
Audiences of four thousand or more attended each of the daily sessions.
 
 
The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions was inaugurated on September 11 at the Permanent Memorial Art Palace, now known as the Art Institute of Chicago.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 20 2026 5:59 utc | 85

“Turkey is the new threat”   (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (Former israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett).
 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kaOWgujCHtA  (length: < 1 minute, posted: april 19, 2026)

Posted by: WMG | Apr 20 2026 7:34 utc | 87

They begged Xi, literally BEGGED – to SLOW DOWN!
 
Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 20 2026 9:45 utc | 88
 
—
 
Western Finance is terrified of deflation ’cause Chinese productivity hits different.
 

Posted by: too scents | Apr 20 2026 9:50 utc | 89

“The robot development in Beijing half-marathon in 12 months is staggering (no pun intended)
Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 19 2026 17:31 utc | 18”
 
Next year, there will be a requirement that the robot has to start the race carrying a lady’s purse containing an inhaler.

Posted by: Dalit | Apr 20 2026 10:48 utc | 91

Figure out the difference between a rocket engine and a jet engine yet, Dick?
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 20 2026 1:24 utc | 73
 
*********************
 
Somebody please help Mr. Gruff. He seems to be fixated on impersonating a broken record whilst speaking to some imaginary person called Dick. Ask Mr. Gruff if Dick is in the room with him now.

Posted by: General Factotum | Apr 20 2026 10:54 utc | 93

Don’t be so sensitive, Dick. Grow an epidermis. This is the Internet. If you choose to be a Dick here the ride gets a little bumpy. 

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 20 2026 11:27 utc | 95

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 19 2026 19:26 utc | 26
 
Interesting. I believe the school was probably targetted as a deliberate policy, in the belief that the shock would accelerate the hypothesised “regime” collapse. Hegseth may have specifically suggested targetting a primary school and ordered his staff to find candidates – that would be consistent with his known policies. AI might have been used as the tool to find the school. 
 
The timing you describe is interesting, and you could be correct about the algorythmic headsup.

Posted by: BM | Apr 20 2026 11:53 utc | 97

About Bulgaria. I am under the impression that the EU leaders totally forgot about this election, or reckoned it was all settled in advance? lol

Posted by: Avtonom | Apr 20 2026 13:12 utc | 99