Links 9/28/2026 | naked capitalism

‘U.S. Marines injured in recent Iranian attack”

If those Marines were not on a US Navy ship when it was hit, then it can only have been a commercial ship, likely one doing a runner for the Strait. So would this suggest that you have a squad of Marines aboard each of those ships making a run for the open sea to provide coordination with other US forces and standing by ready to fight off any Iranians trying to land on one of those ships by helicopter? Seems that in this war, the Pentagon is always ready to come up with new innovative ways to put their people in harm’s way.

you can eat for free if you eat wild

Except it is not free, it consumes your time which is worth something, and even more time if you don’t live in close proximity to the wild.

Re; Bar coding.

There is a parallel story to what happened that illustrates the role humans play. My honorary Uncle Alan was the head of the supermarket industry association committee that was struggling to agree on a standard. The industry was among the hardest hit by the inflation of the late 70s. The committee was holding its final meeting in San Fransisco and would either agree or nothing would happen.

In order to forge a consensus Alan took them all to see a hard-core porn movie then to one of the City’s top restaurants. It worked.

Vanessa Beeley and Council Estate Media have already weighed in that the RAF Fairford incident is full of holes and call it an “embarrassing false flag.” Apparently US right-wing media are accusing Iran, whose govt denied it, and in the UK, the hype is that Russia did it, whose govt has also denied it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/councilestatemedia/p/was-fairford-the-most-embarrassing?utm_source=direct&r=oxutu&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer

Re: GOP cooked in midterms

I watch the RealClearPolitics polling average, you can see it by clicking on “House” in the gizmo on the RHS of this URL:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

The blue line took a big jump after Labor Day and never fell back. Currently the Dems have an 8.7% advantage. I smell a rout!

Kimberly Guilfoyle knows how to land on her feet, from Gavin Newsome to Donald Trump Jr to ambassador to Greece.
She clearly has some skills…

“Trump asked China’s president if he wants to buy U.S. arms, ambassador says”

Trying to think of a single weapons system that the US manufactures that the Chinese might want. Nope, got nothing. In any case, the Chinese would know that any weapon that the US sold them that had even a tiny bit of electronics in it – which is nearly all of them – would include a kill switch. So probably no sale here.

A tiny town decides moratorium can’t stop NY’s biggest data center from moving in syracuse.com

Opponents of data centers in New York state breathed a sigh of relief in July when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a one-year moratorium on new data center development.

But the moratorium has not slowed plans for a massive data center in rural St. Lawrence County.

On the site of a shuttered aluminum smelting plant in the town of Massena, developers plan to start construction of an 870,000-square-foot data center by the end of this year. The facility — which would be one of the largest in the state – appears to be exempt from Hochul’s order, according to Massena officials.

“They’re exempt from the governor’s moratorium,’’ said the town supervisor, Ray Lancto.
…
NYDIG is on the leading edge of an array of data centers looking to connect to the electric grid in St. Lawrence County, which boasts robust transmission lines built to transport electricity produced by the state’s St. Lawrence – FDR hydroelectric power plant. The hydro makes about 850 megawatts.

There are 10 other interconnection requests in St. Lawrence County under review by the New York Independent System Operator, which oversees the transmission grid. If the NYISO approves them all, they would consume 5,200 megawatts, enough power for more than 5 million homes.

This bitcoin “mine”will consume 635MW, the New York Power Authority dam produces 850MW Of renewable electricity. This is a typical misallocation resources.

Journalist Shane Harris, asked Claude one simple question about being used to select military targets — and the answer opened up one of the …https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JOZlnfdqnl4

“Moscow Closes the Door: How Putin and Lavrov Hardened Russia’s Line on Ukraine in Ten Days”

Sounds like Putin and Lavrov have had a gut-full and they are aligning more with what Russians want – to get on with it. Sounds like too the Ukrainians/Europeans using 1,600 drones to attack the Moscow region while they were holding elections was one step too far. So the conclusions that Larry Johnson makes are the way that it will be from now on. The Europeans are out of the equation as far as negotiations are concerned. There will be no ceasefires any more – not now, not ever. And Russia will seek a military solution to this war which puts every bit of Ukrainian infrastructure in the firing line. And I doubt that the US under Trump will figure seriously into their calculations as they are the Great Enablers of this whole war. But it will be the Ukraine that will have to pay the biggest price here.

Can the US build a DJI? Arena Physica

I have a DJI Air 3S, which came out in October 2024. I don’t know if we can build them here and compete (I did read the article), but I can tell you this; that little machine is incredible. The technology is off the charts cool. The way it flies, the cameras, the obstacle avoidance, programmable missions, etc. I can’t find much not to be impressed with.

Stoller has been very good lately and in his final column before going on paternity leave he says

The second level is about the Democrats, which is a political party few people really understand. The most important thing to get about the older generation of Democrats is they are fundamentally uninterested in the real world. They have a form of politics, but it is unrelated to governing. It is about validating each other as savvy and polite, while deferring to objective experts. That’s why they love ‘independent’ agencies and asking for studies and vague regulations.

and

Most neoliberal Democrats are like actors playing doctors on TV. Asking a neoliberal Democrat to do something about corporate power or economics is like asking a TV doctor to do surgery. It’s not just that they won’t do it, they are baffled anyone would even consider that their job. A different analogy is the film Galaxy Quest, a sci fi adventure about a group of actors from a Star Trek style show. They are pulled into a battle among aliens, one faction of whom thinks the show is a documentary of a real civilization and has built their society around the fictional series. At a certain point, the lead has to tell the aliens who have worshiped him that he is in fact just an actor.

The Dems and Newsom are the problem. Trump is merely the result.

“ASML says it sold ‘absolutely nothing’ in Europe in 2026 — lithography giant calls on EU to help create demand”

Say, isn’t that the corporation that had a lucrative contract selling their machines to China? But then the US leaned on the Dutch to ban them from doing so? I guess that that is not working out so well for them.

Speaking of rearmament

This Screw Is Needed for Missiles and Planes. Buying One Can Take Years. (NY Times; archive)

More fallout from The Last Supper. Thanks Bill!

It’s a spiral carved into metal, attached to a mechanism that might not look out of place in a junk drawer. Almost no one outside a small, obsessive community of machinists and engineers has ever heard of it. But this humble component, called a precision ball screw, is essential to producing Patriot missiles, airplanes and humanoid robots.

As the Trump administration works to replace or upgrade weapons systems depleted by the war in Iran, these screws are in short supply, adding months or even years to the time it takes to make a missile.

Maybe we shouldn’t rely so heavily on things that are as intricate as watches only to be blown up?

re: EU countries consider Nato-style joint responses to Russian hybrid attacks – Irish Times

So the IT eventually reveals what was clear from the beginning to sane observers about the reason for the countless false flags – provide the foundation to justify attacks on RU – attacks which of course have been happening all the time – but were never acknowledged. Until now.

Now that NATO officially is involvd in a war below the official threshold of “war” expect bolder and dumber strikes.

And of course it facilitates communication, justification and promotion of the forthcoming action. As now you can be honest and blunt about it: “Because Leipzig” and “we told you, right”.

The question is: Have they factored in RU building up its defenses and the costs for Ukraine?

More than 2 years have passed since Aurelien´s essay NATO´s PHANTOM ARMIES – nothing has changed for NATO since. If only it has gotten worse.

So if this is another step in the alleged escalation ladder – what would NATO be doing if Ukraine really collapsed in the near future? At least hypothetically.
They don´t have an answer.

Trump Brought Venezuelan Gold to the U.S., but Refiners Won’t Touch It (NY Times; archive)

Mr. Trump himself had once blacklisted Venezuelan gold, declaring that it destroyed the environment, poisoned people and financed gangsters and corrupt military officials. But after Mr. Trump toppled the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, his view changed.

On the same day that the bars arrived at the White House, the Trump administration issued a new policy allowing traders to import Venezuelan gold from one of the world’s most violent and corrupt mining regions. The first supplies would come from a state-owned mining company that remained a designated U.S. national security threat.

Meanwhile, from earlier this year

U.S. Mint Buys Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as ‘American’ (NY Times; archive)

Every year, the United States Mint sells more than $1 billion of investment-grade gold coins. Each is stamped with an icon like the bald eagle, signifying the government’s guarantee, required by law, that the gold is 100 percent American.

“To hold a coin or medal produced by the Mint is to connect to the founding principles of our nation,” the Mint declares.

But a New York Times investigation has found that the government’s program of gold sales is based on a lie. The Mint is actually the last link in a chain that launders foreign gold, much of it illegally mined, for an insatiable market.

Looks like what Trump screwed up here is he failed to have a plan to launder the gold, so that it can become legitimate on the world scene and disappear into the ostensibly legitimate supply.

Judge Napolitano and Max Blumenthal.

The UN Secret Israel Doesn’t Want You to Know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A5I550bdNg

Thanks for the Louisiana Shrimper/LNG article.

Those shrimpers need to block those cargo ships until Venture Global gives them a cut of the profits.

And with regard to the Class Warfare article on Dead Languages, I def agree that Marxists/Communists use Language that’s unappealing and confusing to the reactionary right wing working class. I find this problem in the ACP but they are working on it and the National CC recognizes that it needs to change the form into a more patriotic tone while keeping ALL THE SUBSTANCE.

That being said, is the author retarded?

Have they NOT heard of the Epstein Class?

Do they not understand that the worlds working class is finally understanding the implications from the Epstein Files?

THAT is how you get them to see Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, etc in a positive light.

THESE COUNTRIES ARE LITERALLY FIGHTING THE EPSTEIN CLASS.

ZERO mention of this whopper of an issue. My boy KIM JONG UN literally said he will come and eradicate our Epstein class for us.

Iran said similar things.

Same with Putin.

THIS is the overarching “language” that we the people and patriots of the world understand. We know it’s not the immigrants fault. We know we are being tricked into death & war.

Comrade Tucker Carlson is preaching the Supra governmental elite that is bound by no law or state.

I’m focusing more on Huey Long and how he reached the Louisiana masses by being moral and always preaching the LAW of the Bible.

It’s always the same LIVING language that survives the millennia:

Love thy neighbor.

Forgive us our debts.

PATRIOTS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST THE EPSTEIN EMPIRE

🇺🇸🫡⚜️

From Branko Milanovic and a co-author —

The End Of Upward Mobility: Artificial intelligence is coming for the meritocracy.
https://www.noemamag.com/the-end-of-upward-mobility/

Milanovic is a smart guy I always pay attention to, even when I disagree (which is hardly ever). It’s a binary scenario he proposes here: either one or the other future, and neither great for anybody but top elites, and maybe not them in anything but the short term….

I don’

Judge Napolitano and Alastair Crooke.

Alastair Crooke : Houthis’ Advantage Over Saudis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J98JGMm7fzA

important.

And I doubt that the US under Trump will figure seriously into their calculations as they are the Great Enablers of this whole war

I agree – and add to the Enablers that the Russia-NATO Founding Act of 1997 under Clinton and, Biden who oversaw Russia’s major break with the West and turn toward China.
This tidbit from Provoked by Scott Horton – “Representing the establishment consensus, George Kennan ironically, and wrongly, thought that [w]ere the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial complex would have to remain, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy” – Norman Cousins, The pathology of Power, (forward by George Kennan) 1987
But Kennan was a diplomat and historian, not an economist. The end of American militarism would have been a shock to the arms manufacturers to the benefit of everyone else whose money they had been confiscating and destroying. With a peace dividend, all that wealth, material, labor and talent could be reinvested in improving the production of actual goods and services to benefit the public’s quality of life. – Robert Higgs, “Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the US Economy in the 1940’s,” The Journal of Economic History, Vol.52, No. 1 (March 1992, 41-60.
“But the vested interests were not going to give up without a fight. As Richard Cummings explained in his 2007 article “Lockheed Stock and Two Barrels,” the 1990’s-era U.S Committee to Expand NATO (later named The U.S Committee on NATO) was a project of Lockheed Martin Vice President Bruce Jackson. The policy in large part a racket for selling Jets either directly to the Eastern European States, or failing that, to force the American taxpayer to pick up the tab for them.” Playboy, January 16, 2007.

Which to me, looks a lot like the playbook, having never been closed, is being used by our pimps-of-our-elected-politicians the broligarchy’ to force the American taxpayer to pick up their tab in the name of defending ‘democracy’ against their real or pretend enemies, foreign or domestic in the name of holding on to their privilege and power… dare I say, white supremacy or Christian nationalism… or just to feed their insatiable narcissistic imperatives.

Again, sorry for the rant

re: United Nations ending

Tariq Ali kind of had it with the UN and wants to end it:

ABOLISH THE UNITED NATIONS
On the recent circus in New York and the real history of the UN
https://tariqali1943.substack.com/p/abolish-the-united-nations

Last para

“Sooner or later the present UN will crumble away as its role becomes more obvious. I doubt whether the Chinese or Russians, Brazilians or South Africans will take the initiative and withdraw from the UN. If it happens, it will be because the US has lost interest. Pity to wait till then. It should be abolished now.”

Among others he links to a 2003 piece by the NLR which thankfully has been archived and not erased, by Peter Gowan. Not sure if I read that one. I sure don´t remember. It´s been 23 years (gosh).

US : UN
Nov/Dec 2003
https://archive.is/rK3hG

Question is did Ali pay attention to Lavrov?
However just cause Lavrov supports the UN in a public speech doesn´t mean he means it.

One question for the better informed: How on Earth is it possible to reform the UN?
If the majority of the GA is still in the pocket of the West? Isn´t it the GA that has the power to do so?

When Democrats throw this election in the Senate, if a liberal Democrat wins in 2028, that president can claim there’s nothing that they can do, Senate Republicans are just so disagreeable; we just can’t come together for the sake of the nation. Check back in with us after we win the Senate in 2030.

LOL.

And so it goes.

AI: the biggest economic bet in US history Michael Roberts

A lot of great stuff in here (mostly financial). One of the things I enjoyed was this: 

And there remain faultlines in the very nature of AI Large Language Models. Two years ago Oxford and Cambridge Researchers proved that every LLM trained only on AI-generated content develops an irreversible disorder. Each new model learns only from what the one before it wrote. By generation nine, the new model had forgotten what it was talking about. Ask it about medieval church towers and it answers with a list of jackrabbits. They called it ‘model collapse’. Every time someone posts machine output [to the internet], the next model gets a little more average [ie, nonsensical].

This is not new information, but it’s quite wild to think about. 

The implication is that LLMs don’t add any new information between their input and their output.  In fact, they seem to subtract from and distort the information that flows through them, not a very surprising result when you look at the computational operations of an LLM, which consists of a pretty ad hoc series of matrix manipulations flavored by the content of the machine’s training material.

I assume that since the “ad hockiness” was originally developed in conjunction with human writing, music composition, and graphic arts it will no longer make sense as the training material loses its connection to human beings.

Fun times ahead!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_large_language_models

2027: Habsburg