John Day
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The Strait of Hormuz is within the territorial waters of both Iran and Oman. Bessent Warns Oman On Hormuz Toll Scheme, After Trump Threatened To ‘Blow Up’ US Ally https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bessent-warns-oman-hormuz-tolls-after-trump-threatened-blow-us-ally
A new global energy and finance system will need to be worked out, as all the destroyed infrastructure is rebuilt. Oil’s Peace Dividend Is Real, But Normalization Is Not A Light Switch https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/oils-peace-dividend-real-normalization-not-light-switch
Huh?! Congress Quietly Moves To Intertwine US, Israeli Militaries On Formal Level https://www.zerohedge.com/military/congress-quietly-moves-intertwine-us-israeli-militaries-formal-level
Ukraine killed 21 Russian students and lied about it: What really happened in Starobelsk
Ukrainian diplomats attempted to dismiss the tragedy as “a fake story” as Russian parents mourned their children https://web.archive.org/web/20260530084900/https://www.rt.com/russia/640743-ukraine-lied-starobelsk-recap/ Intercepted Iranian Missile Injures 5 Americans At Kuwaiti Air Base; Tehran Identifies Two Key MOU Sticking Points
Iran is pushing forward legislation formalizing control/management of Hormuz Strait shipping, which flies in the face of Trump warnings & conditions.
An Iranian Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile targeted Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base, a key operational hub for the U.S. Air Force. BBG says missile intercepted, but falling debris struck part of the base, injuring five Americans.
Two more American drones reported destroyed or damaged in the Kuwait base attack (DropSite/BBG).
Iran says two big MOU agreement issues remain & are not finalized: Unfreezing of Assets & Sanctions, Nuclear File https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/intercepted-iranian-missile-damages-us-reaper-drones-injures-five-kuwaiti-air-base Trump Toughens Terms Of Iran Deal Framework, As Bessent Pinpoints Tehran’s ‘Big Mistake’
Israeli PM Netanyahu says he has “instructed the Israeli military to expand the maneuver in Lebanon” after the occupation of the strategic Beaufort Castle, which he says marks “a dramatic change” in Israel’s operations. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-tightens-terms-iran-deal-framework-bessent-pinpoints-tehrans-big-mistakeIsrael Seizes Crusader Beaufort Castle, Marking Deepest Plunge Into Lebanon In Decades https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-seizes-crusader-beaufort-castle-marking-deepest-plunge-lebanon-decades
Missiles Rain Down On Northern Israel In Large Hezbollah ‘Revenge’ Operation
Northern Israel has come under heavy attack from Hezbollah on Saturday, after this past week a full-scale war has resumed in southern Lebanon, which even saw the resumption of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, much further to the north.
Even while Tel Aviv maintains the illusion of a ceasefire with Lebanon (as in, its government and national army), there is no ceasefire with Iran-linked Hezbollah, following weeks of sporadic drones being sent on northern Israel, as well as troop positions of invading IDF forces. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/missiles-rain-down-northern-israel-large-hezbollah-revenge-operation Hezbollah vs IDF at Ramim outpost: 2x FPV drones deliver 2x RPG anti-tank warheads vs 2x IDF Iron Dome air defence missile firing units at IDF border base on 23 May; two of 15 Iron Dome launchers targeted in this war. https://x.com/jonelmer/status/2060204095391031600
Just Waiting https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/just-waiting
There is a lot of change stacked up, which will impact us suddenly, and everybody is just going on normally until something happens, if I might summarize so succinctly, what I see all around me. Well, gas prices came down this past week, so summer vacation plans can go ahead and proceed.
This feels unnatural to me, and maybe a little unnatural to a lot of people, but just behaving habitually is working for now, so …
I don’t know just what plans our shadowy puppet masters have to present as solutions to the coming crisis, but I presume that they won’t “let it go to waste”.Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-06-01
The “ceasefire” stopped pretending: overnight the US struck Iranian radar at Goruk and Qeshm and a telecom tower at Sirik, and Iran answered with a ballistic missile on a US base in Kuwait — 4 US service members and 3 contractors wounded.
On top of that, Iran’s president handed in his resignation and Konstantinovka’s defense collapsed. Markets, naturally, shrugged: the Shiller PE (price: earnings ratio) is within 3.5% of the dot-com record, oil is bid but paper stays capped, and Trump ordered the first physical Fort Knox audit in 70 years.
US and Iran now openly trading strikes mid-“ceasefire.” CENTCOM confirmed “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar/drone command sites at Goruk and Qeshm over the weekend, plus a Sirik (Bandar Sirik) telecom tower; IRGC says it then hit the airbase the attack launched from...
..Iran’s President Pezeshkian submits his resignation, saying the IRGC has taken over and the government is excluded from decisions. Khamenei’s acceptance unclear; Iranian state-aligned voices call the framing “fake news.” https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-06-01Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-31
The “deal is done” story inverted overnight: Trump swapped his blockade-lifted claim for “tougher terms” (uranium limits, denuclearization, Hormuz guarantees) while Iran’s IRGC declared it now controls all Strait traffic “with full authority” — and shot down a US drone over its own waters early Sunday.
On the ground, Konstantinovka has largely fallen, and Japanese crude reserves just posted the biggest drawdown in the country’s history.
Continuation underneath it all: record tech concentration, the Fort-Knox-revaluation chorus, and a US consumer running on fumes...
..IRGC declares “full authority” over all Strait of Hormuz traffic — vessels must obtain permission and use designated routes or be “targeted.” Khatam al-Anbiya statement via MenchOsint, First Squawk. Iran separately says 20 ships transited in 24h...
..Iran’s state-TV MOU text has Tehran deciding the route and fees — the opposite of “return to normal.” Don Durrett’s one-liner captures the gap: “USA: the Strait has to return to normal. Iran: we now control the Strait. Media: they’re close to signing.”
The $300B reparations number drew open mockery — $70B to bomb, $300B to rebuild, with analysts calling Trump “an idiot” for it. Unconfirmed figure, treat as a circulating claim...
..Kuwaiti base: Iranian missile injured 5 US troops, damaged 2 MQ-9 Reapers. CENTCOM called it a ”successful interception”; MenchOsint and Armchair Warlord say a Fateh-110 actually hit, “intercepted” by two Reapers parked on the tarmac. Drop Site notes Kuwait’s documented pattern of blaming “falling shards.” …
..Physical oil shortages have begun, per Chevron’s CEO — rationing and shortened workweeks already in some Asian markets, US distillate at a 23-year low, ~1bn barrels missing... Backed by record Japanese crude drawdown and Goldman’s “demand destruction” warning..
..Tech now 37% of the S&P 500 — past the 2000 dot-com peak. Hedgeye and Kobeissi, who adds tech equals 91% of US GDP and 41 AI stocks drove 70¢ of every dollar added since ChatGPT...
..S&P 500 just made 9 straight weekly gains, longest since 2023; meme and high-short-interest names having their sharpest run since 2021; hedge-fund gross exposure at the 100th percentile; implied correlation at a record low. Goldman’s read: “all greed, no fear.”…
..Real disposable income -1.1% YoY, biggest drop since Oct 2022; savings rate down to 2.6%, lowest since 2022, on the 12th straight month of spending outpacing income.
Home foreclosures soared 26% in Q1. Don Durrett, flat: “the consumer is broke.”…
..The Fort-Knox-audit-then-revalue narrative is now near-daily — GoldTelegraph pricing the reserve at $667B, maneco64 framing reval as “the ultimate debt-crisis solution,” Don Durrett noting the US “just began filling its SWF.”
The most concrete datapoint: John Macintosh via SilverSeek — the US flipped from net silver importer (~19Moz/mo) to net exporter (~35Moz/mo), a 54Moz/mo swing, with the only coherent explanation being US-China rare-earth payments settled in gold and silver rather than dollars...
..F-15 downed by a Chinese shoulder-launched missile, plus a China-supplied stealth-spotting radar, per NBC via Mario Nawfal — “complicates US-China relations.” Unverified, but a notable escalation if true…
..Pakistan replacing the UAE as Iran’s import/transit hub — 2-3hr overland routing, 45-55% lower freight cost, plus LNG/oil moving to China and Pakistan by rail. Sanctions-evasion architecture forming...
Bessent’s “we outright grabbed the wallets” ($1B Iranian crypto) reframed as a feature, not Iran-specific — Kathleen Tyson and Ben Norton argue it’s the Tether/USDT teardown that was always coming under the stablecoin plan. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-31 Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-30
The Iran “deal” went from Axios leak to full pantomime: Trump posted explicit demands on Truth Social, declared the naval blockade lifted, then convened a 2-hour Situation Room meeting that ended with no decision — while Iran rejected every clause within hours.
Two genuinely new items: Romania’s president admitted the Galati drone was a Russian Geran diverted by Ukrainian air defence, and Bessent boasted of “outright grabbing” $1B in Iranian crypto wallets. Everything else is continuation with a sharper edge — oil-shock warnings from Exxon AND Chevron, an S&P blow-off top, and Hezbollah turning Merkavas into scrap. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-30 Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-29
Russian drone strikes NATO member Romania. A Geran-type drone entered Romanian airspace overnight and hit a 10th-floor apartment in Galati, near the Ukrainian border. Full explosive payload detonated. Two people lightly injured, ~70 evacuated. Romania scrambled F-16s with authorization to engage. Romanian Defense Ministry confirmed the strike...
..Iran-US escalation cycle intensifies despite “ceasefire.” US struck near Bandar Abbas; IRGC retaliated against a US airbase in Kuwait; Iran fired warning shots at four vessels attempting to cross Hormuz; Iran shot down a US drone. Vance says Trump is “not yet ready” to endorse the Iran deal, citing distance on uranium enrichment...
..Israel bombs Beirut after month of quiet — 14 dead. IDF struck targets across Lebanon including Beirut, breaking a month-long lull. Evacuation orders now cover 20% of Lebanon, with more than half north of the Litani. Spain called it “completely unacceptable”...
..Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes on Florida launchpad. The rocket, intended to launch Amazon Leo network satellites, detonated at Cape Canaveral. Amazon says satellites were not yet loaded. Bezos says all personnel safe, “we’ll rebuild”. SpaceX remains the only operational competitor...
..Pentagon positioned to attack Cuba, awaiting Trump’s go-ahead. Per Politico, the US has spent months positioning troops and weapons. USS Nimitz and Iwo Jima are off Cuba’s coast, though analysts note the carrier lacks a full air wing, suggesting posturing over imminent ops. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-29@Boogaloo: I have to re-format every post on Substack after transferring it there, since Substack auto-reformats. Yes, it is sub-optimal. I bold some words to make speed-reading easier.
The original Google blog http://www.johndayblog.com is easier to read, and does not make me have to reformat, when I transfer it from Gmail, which is where I compose.
@Boogaloo: I have to re-format every post on Substack after transferring it there, since Substack auto-reformats. Yes, it is sub-optimal. I bold some words to make speed-reading easier.
The original Google blog http://www.johndayblog.com is easier to read, and does not make me have to reformat, when I transfer it from Gmail, which is where I compose.
Quoth Dr. D:
“I take the opposite side. It is reported only BECAUSE they are Palestinian. Just yesterday Day listed 20 new Israeli genocidal crimes, however not one rocket attack on Israel back. Because shooting Israel back isn’t reported.”Not only do I disagree that Israeli injuries and deaths are not reported when they occur, as on October 7 of 2023, or when there were strikes by Iran on the company-town housing in Dimona, but I included this towards the end of my last barrage of Israel/Palestine war news:
Hezbollah Seriously Wounds Commander of Brigade That Killed Hind Rajab — Highest-Ranking IDF Officer Hit Since October 2023 Colonel Meir Biderman, commander of the IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade, was seriously wounded Tuesday after a Hezbollah explosive drone penetrated a fortified building where he was operating between Dibl and Hadatha in south Lebanon, according to reporting from Israeli outlet Maariv cited by journalist Hala Jaber.
The drone detonated inside despite protective fortifications, leaving Biderman with serious head injuries. A lieutenant colonel was also wounded. The 401st Armored Brigade is the same unit whose “Vampire Empire” company is accused in a 120-page ICC complaint of deliberately targeting and killing six-year-old Hind Rajab, six members of her family, and two paramedics in Gaza City in January 2024. https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2057213249012048005Huh? A New Technological Paradigm? What UFO Disclosure Could Mean for Clean Energy, Human Consciousness, and Our Shared Future
Reported UFO/UAP craft are a profound gateway to entirely new technological paradigms. We draw on the most reputable, verifiable, and credible sources to help you make sense of this emerging issue...
..We believe it’s important to notice these attractors and turning points in human consciousness and use them for good. How do we steward this transition? How do we ensure that breakthrough technologies serve life rather than control? And how do we translate these possibilities into shared abundance and wealth on a global level?
Still to this day, government narratives claim that no secret ET programs have existed. In our 33-min Speculation Station video, we look at everything from specific UFO technologies that have allegedly been recovered from crashes to how these other-worldly technologies might have helped accelerate the development of some human technologies. https://substack.com/home/post/p-198728707Josh Mitteldorf, A Consciousness Field at the Foundation of Reality – review of a physics paper by Maria Stromme https://mitteldorf.substack.com/p/a-consciousness-field-at-the-foundation
2nd Smartest Guy, LYME & LONE STAR BIOWEAPON DISEASES UPDATE: Congressman Tim Burchett Confirms That Bill Gates Is Behind The Massive Increase In Ticks https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/lyme-and-lone-star-bioweapon-diseases
Paul Marik MD has more good reasons to drink green tea: EGCG: A Metabolic Weapon Hidden in Green Tea – A Tier 1 anti-cancer drug https://substack.com/home/post/p-190195093
Paul Marik MD, Mebendazole: A Multi-Axis Metabolic Attack on Cancer – A Tier 1 anti cancer drug https://substack.com/home/post/p-190209237
Steve Kirsch, As many as 2M Americans were seriously disabled by the COVID vaccine
I asked Claude Opus 4.7 to analyze the data because no public health official wants to know the numbers of COVID vaccine injured. Here are the results of that analysis. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/as-many-as-2m-americans-were-seriously HHS to Rebuild Vaccine Advisory Panel as Deadline Nears to Review Next Season’s Flu, RSV Shots
HHS officials on Monday announced plans for the “re-establishment” of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, admitting that an earlier attempt to renew the committee’s charter did not comply with updated federal advisory committee rules. The new notice emphasizes the need for “fairly balanced membership,” “balanced expertise” and broad outreach to identify nominees for the reconstituted committee. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-rebuild-vaccine-advisory-panel-deadline-nears-review-next-seasons-flu-rsv-shots/Tulsi Gabbard Teases Major Bombshells Before Leaving Trump Administration https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2026/05/24/tulsi-gabbard-teases-major-bombshell-before-leaving-trump-administration-n4953206
BREAKING: In Minnesota, Dept. of Justice Charges 15 Suspects with $90 Million Medicaid Fraud
HHS Secretary Kennedy calls Thursday’s charges “the largest autism fraud bust in American history” https://www.themahareport.com/p/breaking-in-minnesota-dept-of-justice John Klar Esq. Is Grass-fed Beef Really Healthier than Grain-Fed Beef – And, if So, Why?
According to a variety of studies, the evidence favors grass-fed beef over its grain–fed competitor https://www.themahareport.com/p/is-grass-fed-beef-really-healthier Vigilant Fox: Across America, farmers are reporting scenes straight out of a nightmare, mysterious boxes of ticks appearing on rural properties while infestations explode at levels many say they’ve never witnessed before.
Now those reports are colliding with documented Bill Gates-funded research into genetically modified ticks, growing fears over Alpha-Gal Syndrome, and scientific papers openly arguing it could be “morally good” to spread meat allergies through engineered tick populations.
Social media is flooding with horrifying footage of animals overwhelmed by massive tick swarms while officials wave the crisis away as “climate change.”
Meanwhile, more than 450,000 Americans are already suffering from Alpha-Gal Syndrome after tick bites, a condition with no cure that can trigger severe allergic reactions to red meat. https://x.com/vigilantfox/status/2056885076793741695?s=43 Nicolas Hulscher, MPH STUDY: Tick-Borne Alpha-Gal Syndrome Incidence Skyrocketed 9,800% in the U.S. Since 2013
Tick-induced meat allergy incidence jumped 301% since 2021 alone, demanding an urgent investigation into past and present tick-related research and biowarfare programs. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-tick-borne-alpha-gal-syndrome“Whatever it takes”: Morocco launches mass deportations to block Europe migration route
As the EU rolls out its new, stricter migration pact, Morocco intensifies crackdown and interceptions of sub-Saharan Africans at Europe’s behest https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/morocco-launches-mass-deportations-block-europe-migration-routeEscape Key, Closing the Loop
Originally, the individual was the endpoint — five layers flowing one direction. What’s being built closes the loop. Your responses — purchases, movements, biometrics, votes, searches — feed back as data the system uses to adjust…
..The result is one clearing system operating at every scale from global to personal, with the same standards, verification and conditions applied to every actor. A jurisdiction, a sovereign, a corporation, a citizen — each routes through the same logic.
The institutions keep their names, but the clearing function underneath them integrates…
..The system listens and adjusts. The voter hasn’t chosen a policy in the old sense. Rather, they’ve chosen a way to implement the same policy, yielding a parameter update in a continuous optimisation system. The next election produces new telemetry, and the system updates again. Replace Keir, and you receive the same policy outcome through different rhetoric.
The institutional theatre’s preserved while the surrounding architecture runs continuously on indicator-driven adjustment. The vote keeps its visible form, but the work it performs has become data-generation. The voter who turns out at the ballot box perhaps feels they’re exercising democratic agency, but in the architecture, all they generate is a signal, which the system reads and adjusts its parameters. The next round of indicator-driven policy proceeds with the new parameters in place.
This is what democracy becomes when the institutional theatre is preserved and the surrounding architecture is recoded to run on continuous feedback. It’s not abolished. It’s demoted from decision to input…
..But now that the citizen passes through the architecture’s clearing, they no longer count as subjects affecting the system — rather, they now count as objects the system processes. That system reads the citizen continuously. Their responses, including those framed as democratic votes, feed the system that determines what they’re permitted to do next. https://escapekey.substack.com/p/the-loop-closesTulsi Gabbard Resigns As Director Of National Intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard is stepping down from her role as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to support her husband, Abraham, as he battles an extremely rare form of bone cancer… Her last day at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will be June 30, 2026. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/breaking-news-tulsi-gabbard-resigns-director-national-intelligenceTulsi Gabbard Fired / Resigned – A source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/05/tulsi-gabbard-fired-resigned.html
How far can she get in June? DNI Gabbard presses to declassify secret but critical court opinion during FISA renewal debate
The court opinion is expected to detail concerns over how federal agencies have managed queries of Section 702 databases and whether internal guardrails designed to prevent abuse were circumvented, according to a senior intelligence official. https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/dni-gabbard-pushing-declassify-secret-fisa-opinion-during-section-702Rubio Says Chance of a ‘Peaceful Agreement’ With Cuba Is ‘Not High’
The comments come after the US indicted Cuba’s former president, setting up a pretext for war https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/21/rubio-says-chance-of-a-peaceful-agreement-with-cuba-is-not-high/Cuba accuses top US diplomat of instigating military aggression
Marco Rubio’s lies once again to instigate a military aggression that would provoke the shedding of Cuban and American blood,’ says foreign minister https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/cuba-accuses-top-us-diplomat-of-instigating-military-aggression/3945132Trump says US wants to ‘help’ Cuba
President Donald Trump said Thursday the US is seeking to help the Cuban people and denied that the recent arrival of a US aircraft carrier near Cuba was intended to intimidate the government of the island nation.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump was asked whether the deployment of the carrier this week was meant as a warning to Havana.
“No, not at all,” Trump responded.
“The Cubans — look, it’s a failed country. Everybody knows that they don’t have electricity, they don’t have money, they don’t have really anything. They don’t have food, and we’re going to help them along, and we’re going to help them.”
Trump said his administration’s approach to Cuba would focus on humanitarian concerns as well as strengthening ties with Cuban Americans in the US, particularly in the state of Florida.
“Number one, I want to help them, I want to on a humanitarian basis, but we have the Cuban American population, much of it living in Miami and Florida, that’s a great group of people” … Trump added that his administration wants “to open it up to Cuban Americans where they can go back and help.” https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/trump-says-us-wants-to-help-cuba/3945040Revealed: USAID, NED & Open Society Quietly Bankroll Cuba’s “Independent” Media In Push for Regime Change https://www.mintpressnews.com/revealed-usaid-ned-open-society-quietly-bankroll-cubas-independent-media-in-push-for-regime-change/290942/
Thanks Mary: Danielle Smith’s Referendum Is Aimed at Carney, Not Alberta
Danielle Smith does not need Alberta to secede from Canada. She only needs to rock Mark Carney’s boat enough to sink his plans.
On Thursday, May 21, the Alberta premier announced that the question of secession would join the October 19 provincial ballot. Not a vote to secede — a vote on whether the province should begin the legal process toward a future binding vote on secession. “A referendum to have a referendum,” as commentators have noted…
..This wasn’t aimed at the ballot box. It was aimed at Canada’s S&P AAA rating.
To see why, you have to look at what the Davos Man in Ottawa has spent the past six months building — and how it relates to the Capitalist Civil War quietly and sometimes loudly raging in the news every day. Mark Carney is the closest thing the Davos faction has to a head of state… he is transnational capital that parachuted into the prime minister’s office in Ottawa…
..Carney is building a European bunker with Canada, the EU-C, or Europe+1. This is what the Davos faction looks like when it loses. Not collapse — relocation. It abandons the soft power global commons and digs into a smaller territory it can actually hold — a hard power military industrial complex.
Canada is leading the charge with the institutional crown jewel — a proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB)— a multinational lender, modelled on the World Bank, pooling sovereign capital from dozens of allied states to raise $135 billion USD to finance the rearmament of the West…
..The bank works only if it can borrow cheaply, and it can only borrow cheaply if Canada can confirm rock-solid economic stability. The whole edifice of Carney’s retreat — the EU rapprochement, the DSRB, the middle-power coalition — runs on Canada’s AAA credit rating and national stability.
This is the asset Danielle Smith is leveraging…
..Trump does not need to annex Alberta to win. He needs only to make the seas choppy enough to scuttle the ship. Every month of credible secession threat is a month of doubt priced into Canada’s standing, a month the DSRB’s backers spend wondering whether the host country can keep its own federation together. The threat is the weapon…
..Smith does not have to break Canada; she has to make it expensive to defend. The separatists do not have to win the referendum, they just have to ruin Carney’s variable geometry equation by adding some unstable coefficients so the numbers don’t add up to AAA rating…
..So the October ballot is not really a question about whether Alberta stays in Canada. It is a question about whether the Davos faction’s Europe+1 bunker is as defensible as its architect needs it to be. Smith has handed Carney a six-month ultimatum and it is running straight into the summer’s trade summits.
The Canada Investment Summit In September 14–15, 2026 in Toronto, where Carney will pitch his variable geometry framework to anchor $1 trillion in direct foreign capital… but the reality is that it is Blackrock and Blackstone leading the pack — stateless asset-manager capital, the purest Davos-faction money there is — with the Gulf State sovereign funds right behind them…
..This is the Davos faction’s curse stated again. It needs buy-in even from money that has no loyalty to it. And every month Danielle Smith keeps a secession threat alive is a month that the calm waters look choppy — which is the whole point. The mercenaries chase stability. Smith’s only job is to make Canada look unstable enough that they keep their checkbooks closed until October. https://substack.com/home/post/p-198863049Simplicius, Russia Tells Western Diplomats to Flee Kiev, Announces Campaign of Prolonged Systematic Strikes on Capital City
In a turn of events that stunned the commentariat, the Russian MOD has officially announced that Russia will continue striking Kiev in a new ‘systematic’ campaign of hitting military-industrial enterprises and ‘decision-making centers’…
..But, is it possible that perhaps Russia is looking to finally escalate the war in a way that could change the calculus once and for all? It does appear to be oddly ‘coincidental’ that these rumors of a new operation from the north into Kiev happen to coincide with Russia’s own announcement that a new systematic measure of wasting Kiev’s decision-making centers and HQs…
..The simple fact that attacks on the decision-making centers was announced well in advance to give time for those ‘decision-makers’ themselves to take cover is probably revealing in this regard. At the same time, it seems unprecedented for Russia to warn diplomatic missions to evacuate Kiev, which would seem to imply major coming attacks in the very city center around Bankova and the Independence Square where most such diplomatic missions would presumably be clustered. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/russia-tells-western-diplomats-toUkraine Donor Fatigue: Half Of Countries Withdraw From Czech Ammunition Initiative
Pavel said that while 18 countries participated last year, only nine are still making financial contributions now. “This initiative has been delivering up to 50 per cent of all large caliber ammunition to the Ukrainians, so in this sense it cannot be replaced easily by anything else.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-donor-fatigue-half-countries-withdraw-czech-ammunition-initiativeA “threat” of radio-surveillance? Rubio: Cuba is a threat to the US because Russian and Chinese intelligence units are there https://en.topwar.ru/283133-rubio-kuba-ugroza-dlja-ssha-tak-kak-tam-razvedpodrazdelenija-rossii-i-kitaja.html
Russia condemns US attempt to ‘economically suffocate’ Cuba
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says US claims of Cuba’s alleged preparation to attack it ‘provoke nothing but a laugh’ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/russia-condemns-us-attempt-to-economically-suffocate-cuba/3945182;-( Russian Fuel Tanker Aborts Cuba Delivery After Drifting In Caribbean For A Month https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/russian-fuel-tanker-gives-trying-supply-cuba-after-lingering-month-caribbean
So “Never”, as Art Berman predicts? Joe Kent: Trump can’t end war until Israel taken out of the loop https://israelpalestinenews.org/joe-kent-trump-cant-end-war-until-israel-taken-out-of-the-loop/
Syrian Girl on X: Must read article by British patriot Mark Collet on how Israel is ruining Britain’s legal system and the implication it will have for nationalists.
• Defendants banned from explaining their motives to juries • Political protest treated like extremism • Terror-style sentencing logic used in non-terror cases https://x.com/Partisangirl/status/2057381838625337579Last week: “Drills Are Intended To Send A Signal”: Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air Alongside Belarus https://www.zerohedge.com/military/drills-are-intended-send-signal-russia-holds-massive-nuclear-drills-land-sea-and-air
Tass, Russia uses Oreshnik weapon to strike Ukrainian military command posts
That was response to terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian military against civilian facilities located on the territory of the Russian Federation, the Russian Defense Ministry reported https://tass.com/defense/2135791Gilbert Doctorow thinks that it the time for Moscow to do decapitation strikes is long overdue. Moscow finally is blasting Kiev: where is the war headed? https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/moscow-finally-is-blasting-kiev-where
UN reports 125,000 skin infection cases in Gaza linked to rats and parasites – UN personnel dealing with 400 cases a day, urge timely delivery of medicines https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/un-reports-125-000-skin-infection-cases-in-gaza-linked-to-rats-and-parasites/3944313
Autopsies of Gaza Medics Killed by Israeli Troops Show Some Were Shot in the Head https://israelpalestinenews.org/autopsies-of-gaza-medics-killed-by-israeli-troops-show-some-were-shot-in-the-head-2/
Hezbollah Seriously Wounds Commander of Brigade That Killed Hind Rajab — Highest-Ranking IDF Officer Hit Since October 2023 Colonel Meir Biderman, commander of the IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade, was seriously wounded Tuesday after a Hezbollah explosive drone penetrated a fortified building where he was operating between Dibl and Hadatha in south Lebanon, according to reporting from Israeli outlet Maariv cited by journalist Hala Jaber.
The drone detonated inside despite protective fortifications, leaving Biderman with serious head injuries. A lieutenant colonel was also wounded. The 401st Armored Brigade is the same unit whose “Vampire Empire” company is accused in a 120-page ICC complaint of deliberately targeting and killing six-year-old Hind Rajab, six members of her family, and two paramedics in Gaza City in January 2024. https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2057213249012048005The Trump administration is threatening to revoke visas for the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations unless Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour withdraws his candidacy for vice president of the U.N. General Assembly, according to an internal State Department cable obtained by NPR.
The May 19 cable reportedly instructed U.S. diplomats to pressure Palestinian officials to abandon the bid ahead of June 2 elections for one of the assembly’s 21 vice president posts. The cable described Mansour as someone with a “history of accusing Israel of genocide,” and warned his appointment would undermine Trump’s Gaza agenda. https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2057288168248881633AIPAC does not reveal employee names, but… U.S.: New Data Highlights AIPAC Ties to the U.S., Israeli Governments
The data demonstrates a revolving door relationship between AIPAC and U.S. and Israeli governmental institutions, with dozens of current and former AIPAC staff having worked for Israeli or U.S. government bodies. https://israelpalestinenews.org/u-s-new-data-highlights-aipac-ties-to-the-u-s-israeli-governments/‘Over the Border It Was Okay to Be Crazy’: IDF Soldiers Tell About the Army’s Moral Decay in Lebanon
‘The feeling is that the IDF has become like an army of Vikings – they let soldiers loot so they’ll be happy and keep fighting,’ one soldier says.
“The method was fixed. Every evening, after the sun set, the logistics unit’s convoy would enter. Their mission was to bring us supplies: food, oil, ammunition; whatever was needed.
“But there was also an unofficial mission: to take out the loot, to unload the spoils at the outpost where the headquarters was, so it would be waiting for the soldiers when they went home.
“The soldiers in the convoy, of course, weren’t suckers; they would take valuable items themselves. ‘Just choose what you want,’ they’d be told. And there was no shortage of things to loot. https://israelpalestinenews.org/over-the-border-it-was-okay-to-be-crazy-idf-soldiers-tell-about-the-armys-moral-decay-in-lebanon/Israeli strike causes heavy damage to hospital in southern Lebanon – 2 killed in attack near Tebnine Hospital, Lebanese media says https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-strike-causes-heavy-damage-to-hospital-in-southern-lebanon/3945113
Lebanese accuse Israel of wiping their towns off the map
Lebanese mother-of-two Hala Farah is collecting photos and videos to preserve the memory of her hometown which, like many others along the southern border, has been completely destroyed by Israeli forces.
Testimony from residents and officials, as well as satellite images and photographs taken by AFP journalists on both sides of the border, show widespread destruction in dozens of Lebanese towns and villages. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2644534/middle-eastUS Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee tells Lebanese being bombed to thank Israel for seedless watermelons
The US ambassador to Israel has previously said Israel has the right to take over ‘all’ of the Middle East https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-mike-huckabee-tells-lebanese-thank-israel-seedless-watermelonsJewish settlers steal dozens of sheep, attack citizens and cars in W. Bank https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/05/21/363578/
AI-Ben-Gvir, just as effective? “Don’t Be Bothered by Their Screams”: Ben-Gvir Proudly Posts Video of Police Dragging Members of the Flotilla Team
A diplomatic firestorm has erupted and what began as another act of humiliation proudly broadcast by Itamar Ben-Gvir quickly spiraled into a rare global diplomatic backlash, with governments across Europe, North America, and beyond publicly condemning Israel’s treatment of Gaza flotilla activists. Britain’s Yvette Cooper said she was “truly appalled,” while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni called the footage “inadmissible.”
Spain announced plans to ban Ben-Gvir from entering the country and push for wider European sanctions. France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Qatar, Turkey, South Korea, and top European Union officials all denounced the scenes as degrading, humiliating, illegal, or incompatible with democratic values. Several countries summoned Israeli ambassadors demanding explanations or apologies after footage showed activists zip-tied, dragged, and forced to kneel while Ben-Gvir mocked them online. Even figures inside Israel and allied diplomats distanced themselves from the spectacle, exposing just how politically toxic the images became on the world stage. But for many observers, the outrage also raised a darker question: if world leaders are only now reacting because Western citizens were humiliated on camera, what horrors have Palestinians endured for years outside the spotlight? https://scheerpost.com/2026/05/21/itamar-ben-gvir-turns-torture-into-a-public-spectacle-dont-be-bothered-by-their-screams/Türkiye has called Israel’s seizure of Gaza flotilla vessels piracy and banditry. https://en.topwar.ru/283135-turcija-nazvala-zahvat-izrailem-sudov-flotilii-dlja-gazy-piratstvom-i-banditizmom.html
Iran Destroyed Nearly $1 Billion Worth of US MQ-9 Reaper Drones
Despite the heavy losses, the chief of the US Air Force dubbed the MQ-9 the ‘MVP’ of the US-Israeli bombing campaign https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/21/bloomberg-iran-destroyed-nearly-1-billion-worth-of-us-mq-9-reaper-drones/Last week: House Republicans Block Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution That Was Expected To Pass
The effort to pass an Iran War Powers Resolution is gaining momentum in both the House and Senate https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/21/house-republicans-block-vote-on-iran-war-powers-resolution-that-was-expected-to-pass/Or the plan is to just keep milking the Strait and letting a few ships through… US seeks to start new war, force Iran’s surrender: chief negotiator
Chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says the US is using economic pressure and a naval blockade to push Iran toward surrender and acceptance of its demands. https://www.trtworld.com/article/dd43a7b6df74West’s current aggression stems from decline in influence, fear of competition — Lavrov
Sergey Lavrov also noted that “the financial and economic system led by the West after World War II can no longer function in a way that guarantees continued benefit for Western countries”. https://tass.com/politics/2134231Charles Hugh Smith, Why Is Consumer Sentiment at Record Lows?
Consumer sentiment is at record lows because there is zero visibility on any real-world trends that would be positive for the bottom 90%.
In previous lows in consumer sentiment, current economic conditions were unfavorable because the economy was in a recession. I’ve indicated the three major recessions of the past 50 years on the chart below: 1973-74 (energy crisis / inflation), 1980-82 (inflation, higher interest rates), and 2008-09 (housing bubble burst, subprime mortgage meltdown triggers Global Financial Crisis).
The most important difference between then (1973-2009) and now is that average households could still afford to buy a house and have a family and now those are out of reach for a significant percentage of median-income urban households. In previous recessions, consumers suffering the effects of recession had visibility on evidence that once the economy improved, they would still be able to afford to buy a house and raise a family. This visibility wasn’t a top-down narrative bolstered by gamed statistics; it was visible across the entire spectrum of the economy.
The truth few dare to recognize is there is no credible evidence that housing and having a family will return to being affordable for the majority in the foreseeable future. https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/p/why-is-consumer-sentiment-at-recordGold & Geopolitics has entertaining analysis, “not financial advice” on the NVIDIA stock bubble: Last call on the most valuable company in the world https://no01.substack.com/p/last-call
“Smokescreen”, whether Netanyahu is alive or an AI-ghost: Larry Johnson calls Trump’s claim that he tell Netanyahu what to do a ‘smokescreen’
Iran War has been stuck in a stalemate, with both sides taking a hardline stance to end the war https://trendsinthenews.substack.com/p/larry-johnson-calls-trumps-claim“We” pay the bills for “their” genocides: US shoulders most of Israel’s missile defense effort, Pentagon assesses: Report
Washington deployed more than 200 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors to help defend Israel, nearly half of Pentagon’s entire stockpile https://www.aa.com.tr/en/us-israel-iran-war/us-shoulders-most-of-israel-s-missile-defense-effort-pentagon-assesses-report/3945188US Launches “Self-Defense Strikes” Near Hormuz, Killing Several Iranian Personnel https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-says-us-peace-talks-hit-consensus-many-issues-no-final-deal-yet
Iran Vows ‘Swift, Decisive’ Revenge After Overnight US Port Attack, As Sides Seek Deal Allowing Each To ‘Sell Their Narrative’ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-decries-us-ceasefire-violation-after-overnight-port-raid-insists-12bn-fund
IRGC learns to talk-smack like Trump: White House Rejects ‘Complete Fabrication’ Of Peace Framework Reports From Iranian Side
IRGC keeping up the rhetoric: warns that Iran would “turn the area from Chabahar to Mahshahr into a graveyard for aggressors” if the ceasefire collapses.
CENTCOM: “Clearly the Iranians are trying to hedge their bets here and put more pressure on the US.”
Iranian president: “The main battleground today is the economic war.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tehran-pushes-draft-peace-framework-while-sidestepping-uranium-question-pezeshkianGold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-27
“The purpose of a thing is what it does.” – Strait of Hormuz: still closed, deal nowhere close – Oil supply crisis deepening beneath manipulated prices
Chinese oil imports plunging to 10-year low for May while Indian imports surge to highest ever – Beijing effectively buffering the region per Javier Blas
Hormuz reopening timeline pushed to mid-August at earliest per JustDario
Art Berman: “No Hormuz resolution ever” – flows return to 25-50% in 2027 with “crushing effects that will change the world forever”…
..Iran-US hostilities resume during “peace talks”: US conducted overnight strikes on southern Iran and Iranian vessels near Hormuz. IRGC retaliated by shooting down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone and firing at an F-35 and RQ-4 in Iranian airspace. Iran’s foreign ministry called it a “flagrant ceasefire violation” and vowed retaliation…
..Israel escalates ground operations in Lebanon beyond Blue Line: IDF began operations past its self-declared “Yellow Line” in southern Lebanon, ordered reserve call-ups. Netanyahu ordered “intensified blows”. 70+ Hezbollah targets struck in 24 hours…
..US SPR approaching historic lows: Per @JustDario, current SPR at ~365mb after ~9mb weekly drawdown, roughly 10 days from all-time low (~347mb)… Luke Gromen calls SPR releases “Nixonian price controls with better marketing”…
..Russia targets bunkers, not embassies, but warning is pro-forma: Russia warns all foreigners to evacuate Kyiv, announces systematic strikes: Russia’s MFA ordered evacuation of Kyiv ahead of prolonged missile strikes on decision-making centers. Multiple NATO countries refused to withdraw embassies…
..Semiconductor melt-up accelerates into uncharted territory: Micron surged 19% to hit $1T market cap – was $70B just 12 months ago. SK Hynix passed $1T, Korean market up +100% YTD. SOX up 18% in a week…
..S&P 500 hits new ATH but the internals are rotten – 8 of past 12 record highs on negative breadth – more decliners than advancers
Median S&P stock carries 3% short interest – highest since late 2011 – Goldman’s Armbrust: “SPX correlation vs every macro asset has broken down” https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-27Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-05-25
Iran-US deal in Schrödinger’s state: simultaneously agreed, rejected, and collapsing. Trump announced deal “largely negotiated” Friday, then Saturday walked it back under Israeli pressure, posting a bomb image on Truth Social. Iran’s Tasnim called reports of uranium handover “completely false”. White House says no deal today, “could take several more days”. Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed 14-point MOU outline but says signing is not imminent. Both sides have completely different versions of the same memorandum. Oil crashed 4-5% on deal hopes, then Trump reversed tone. Sources say he’s “completely backing away” under “extreme internal pressure from Israel and its US domestic allies”…
..S&P 500 futures hit all-time high, consumer sentiment at all-time low. “We’ve never seen a gap this wide between Wall Street and Main Street”…
..Strait of Hormuz: Day 86 closed. Iran established Persian Gulf Strait Authority demanding $2M/supertanker in yuan or crypto. Traffic at <10% of pre-war volume. Iran’s Foreign Ministry says “management of the Strait belongs to coastal countries”…
..Five NATO countries blocked mandatory military aid for Ukraine – UK, France, Italy, Spain, Canada opposed Rutte’s 0.25% GDP proposal…
..Oil supply crunch beneath the surface – Near-perfect correlation between oil prices and CPI per Kobeissi. Oil averaged ~$100/barrel for 79 days
JustDario: Trump “cannot shut exports” of light crude without triggering refinery chaos globally. US SPR being drained at unprecedented rates and exported at lower prices…
..US fiscal/bond stress – 30Y Treasury yield hit 5.197%, highest since 2007 – Interest expense could hit 30% of government revenue by 2036 at 4.70% average 10Y yield
For first time since 2023, US inflation rising faster than wage growth – real purchasing power declining…
..Hezbollah grinding IDF in South Lebanon – At least 2 Israeli soldiers killed on Saturday, 1 lost legs. 7+ wounded in Haddatha per helmet-cam footage
20+ FPV drones launched at occupation forces in single day – Hezbollah now using thermal imaging FPVs – Will Schryver: “US/Israel effectively naked against these things”…
..AI economics hitting reality – Microsoft reportedly told engineers to stop using Claude Code due to exploding costs. Uber’s yearly AI budget destroyed by April…
..AI causing net US loss of 16,000 jobs/month per Goldman Sachs. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-25Permanent Oil Crisis https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/permanent-oil-crisis
I’ve been busy with family and full-contact vegetable gardening, as summer begins, with the el-Nino promise of rain for Texas, already in evidence. I am putting in a new 24 ft. X 34 ft bed in the grass covered,and rooted clay soil of Yoakum, with a couple of hard workdays with lunch breaks on Saturday and again yesterday. The goal is to grow calories, which is what farmers do for us, in this case a spring harvest of Rye, and a fall-solstice harvest of black-eyed peas, managed in a “Regenerative Farming” paradigm, but with myself as grunt-labor, and a corded-electric roto-tiller I bought for initial bed prep, now in progress. We are going to have a boring-party with pot-luck dining and local Shiner beer at the Yoakum homestead on Saturday June 20 if the world doesn’t end first.
I agree with oil-man Art Berman’s assessment that the Hormuz Crisis is being made permanent, a politically obscured control-valve on global real economy. Let’s keep watching with the thought in mind that this is doing what it is supposed to do, throttling down global oil and natural gas consumption with a little bit of leeway, in an emergency context, which cannot really be changed politically, at least not as far as non-elites are concerned. It is inevitable. We have passed Peak-Oil + Gas-Liquids.Surplus Energy Economics, The looming crash – HOW THE PHYSICAL DERAILS THE FINANCIAL
Even if the flow of shipping through the Straits of Hormuz were to resume immediately – and there’s very little likelihood of that – more than enough damage has already been done to ensure that the economy will take a very big hit within a matter of months.
This blow will initially be physical, not financial, though a severe financial crisis will follow swiftly in its wake.
This is a physical event because it’s axiomatic – but it can’t, in these circumstances, be reiterated too often – that we cannot expect the banking system to lend energy and other raw materials into existence, or ask central bankers to conjure these resources, ex nihilo, out of the ether…
..“Money, having no intrinsic worth, commands value only in terms of those material products and services for which it can be exchanged”.
Money, then, is claim, and has no value in the absence of substance, and a severe loss of substance is now nailed on within a very short time…
..What this necessarily entails is a materially-triggered wholesale destruction of the excess claims created by the reckless financialisation of the Western economies…
..[Well, this will maximize the shock experienced by people…] Most Western governments have totally failed. They have made no efforts to contain non-essential energy consumption. They have developed no ideas about how to prioritize vital over less important uses of energy. They have done nothing to prepare for rationing of energy and other necessities.
Investors, meanwhile, have seen nothing anomalous about markets hitting new highs even as the material economy heads into a train-crash…
..Western leadership cadres seem to have two overriding priorities. Externally, the aim has been to continue Western (and largely American) hegemony over the rest of the world. At home, there’s been an absolute determination to sustain and widen differentials between a favoured minority and everybody else…
..Having narrowly failed to bring down the banking system in 2008, decision-makers seem to have spent the intervening years assiduously working to build a bigger and better crash. Importantly, financial crises are always the product of ambition triumphing over possibility to a point at which rationality flies out of the window…
..The mechanics of financial crashes are well understood. Easy access to credit is essential if investors are to lose more than they actually possess. Lax regulation helps, as does an ability to trade speculative investments as far away as possible from recognised exchanges.
Ultimately, though, bubbles are psychological, and occur when a culture of greed so overwhelms prudence and reasoned appraisal that rational behaviour is over-ruled…
..In 1945, few people wanted to return to the “business as usual” of the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression and the rise of political fanaticism. Keynes had given policymakers new tools for the management of what was then known as “the business cycle”.
A desire to use the same organizational techniques which had won the war to “win the peace” led to the mixed economy of optimised private and public provision. The architecture of the post-war settlement – Bretton Woods, the World Bank and the IMF – might have been far from perfect, but it was well suited to a world in search of progress rather than regression.
All of this, though, would have had limited results had it not been for energy transition. The impetus of coal, which had powered the industrial economy since its inception in the symbolic year of 1776, began to flag in the inter-war years, and the arrival of oil – and latterly of natural gas – reinvigorated the economy after 1945…
..Oil remained cheap and abundant when, in October 1973, a falling out between major consumers and leading producers distorted the market and created dislocating rises in crude prices.
On the principle of ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’, opportunistic politicians succeeded in persuading the public that the traumas of the decade were caused, not by oil crises – as was in fact the case – but by “left-wing” government policies and “over-mighty” organised labour…
..Behind the scenes, though, what was actually happening was that the proportionate cost of energy supply – known here as the Energy Cost of Energy – was rising, because the benefits of reach and scale had been exhausted, and the new driver of costs was depletion.
Though ECoEs began the 1990s at 3.0%, and reached only 4.2% by the end of the decade, this was a sufficient headwind to create the phenomenon known as “secular stagnation”…
..This necessarily led to the GFC of 2008-09, to which official responses amounted to adding “monetary adventurism” to the failed credit version…
..The psychological effect is known as “moral hazard”. What this means is that anyone who has once been rescued from the consequences of their mistakes or misfortunes becomes persuaded that such a rescue will be repeated if these conditions recur. This, in essence, is a licence to speculate.
The social consequence of 2008 was that the policies then adopted favoured the owners of assets over everyone else…
..There were two big economic shifts associated with post-GFC policies.
One of these was the abandonment of market capitalism, an ascendancy overthrown, not by its established enemies, but by its erstwhile friends.
Market capitalism is a system that has two basic requirements. The first is that governments mustn’t interfere with the ability of the markets to conduct price-discovery and to put a price on risk. The other is that investors must earn a sufficient real return on their capital.
Once both of these precepts were abrogated, the neoliberal market-capitalist ascendancy was replaced by post-capitalist expediency.
The second economic consequence of the 2008 policy choices has been rampant financialisation. In Surplus Energy Economics terms, what this means is the expansion of the amount of money attached to any given quantity of material economic substance…
..Financialisation preceded the collapse of the Roman, Spanish, Dutch and British empires…
..No ascendancy ever retires gracefully, and the false claims made now on the score of ‘infinite economic growth on a finite planet’ are two in number.
The first is that we can use monetary tools to reinvigorate a flagging material economy. The claim nature of money makes this wholly illogical.
The second is that the consequences of material economic finality can be circumvented using “limitless” technological innovation. This is fallacious because, far from being “limitless”, the potential of technology is contained within an envelope of possibility whose boundaries are set by the laws of physics and the characteristics of materials. https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2026/05/22/324-the-looming-crash/comment-page-1/#respondAlex Krainer advocates making informed choices. Economic growth or prosperity?
Not all economic growth is desirable. Ultimately it’s about choices: what future do we want to build? We’ve no right to abdicate on making those choices because future depends on it. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/economic-growth-or-prosperitySimplicius, US Admits No Hormuz Plan B as Preparations for Next Wave Begin https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/us-admits-no-hormuz-plan-b-as-preparations
Iran’s Top Negotiating Team In Qatar ‘For Talks To End War’ – But Cautions Deal Signing ‘Not Imminent’ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-says-us-peace-talks-hit-consensus-many-issues-no-final-deal-yet
@Zerosum: “sore back”, yeah, tired, and hamstrings and hands, but nothing that lounging on the old couch with a laptop for a day won’t ameliorate. I already did some gardening here in Austin, but mostly pulling weeds that are sprouting up all over.
Got cucumbers, for sure…@Zerosum: So US military planes are clogging up Ben Gurion Airport, and making it a more-legitimate target for Iranian missiles, but if there is a “peace deal” the US will remove them to Europe, so that Israeli air-carriers will quit complaining…
Hmm, the whole thing seems fishy to me,but I can’t quite see what the actual dynamics might be.@TDK: Thanks. The incoming rains change the trajectory of gardening in both our Austin and Yoakum gardens, with more work likely to lead to more and sustained output while el Nino pattern persists in bringing rainfall.
@TBOC: I gave up watching TV for Y2k, & all-star-wrestling had lost any allure for me by the age of 11. MORE COWBELL! ;-D@TDK: el Nino is bringing rain to Texas. I have been doing all the grunt work to put in a new, large garden bed in our rural homestead, cramping in my back, legs and hands, but it is taking shape, 24′ X 34′.
This should be a productive and moderate summer with rainfall.I voted for Ken Paxton to primary John Cornyn because Paxton is somewhat less-evil and has stood up against vaccine mandates. Cornyn is intelligent and deeply-connected evil (IMHO).
And:
UFC arena under construction on White House lawn to mark Trump’s 80th birthday https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/26/ufc-arena-white-house-trump-birthdayThat’s not a bug… New data shows once an Indian CEO gets hired at a major company, what follows is Americans getting pushed out of their jobs and replaced by Indians
https://x.com/wallstreetapes/status/2057305358167904705Sseing more of this recently:
LYME & LONE STAR BIOWEAPON DISEASES UPDATE: Congressman Tim Burchett Confirms That Bill Gates Is Behind The Massive Increase In Ticks https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/lyme-and-lone-star-bioweapon-diseasesA source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/05/tulsi-gabbard-fired-resigned.html
Dems Vote Down Women’s History Museum Over Limit to Biological Women (Turley)
“You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” Virginia Slims Cigarette ads 1968. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da0EUKh-8cE
Thanks TDK. I was about to post that. The CIA has long had technologies to induce cancers. If Tulsi’s husband Abraham has osteosarcoma, he’s in an age cohort that rarely gets it (middle age before 60). It is a nasty cancer, and usually has spread by the time it is diagnosed.
It could be something else that has spread to the bone, and called “bone cancer”, which would be more common.
God Bless Them.Kyle Busch, 41, died of “severe illness” right after winning races.
I wonder if he ever got any of those gene-therapy injections.
;-(RFK Jr. Leading ‘Intense,’ Multi-Agency Study on Childhood Vaccine Safety, New York Times Reports
The initiative, first revealed by The New York Times, includes “a look at the overall effect of the childhood vaccine schedule.” Researchers will compare the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated kids, and examine possible links between vaccines and autism — including whether thimerosal, a mercury-based adjuvant used in some vaccines, may trigger autism. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rfk-jr-leading-intense-multi-agency-study-childhood-vaccine-safety/ Don’t kiss a loved-one who just died of Ebola, OK? The Kiss of Death: How Tribal Rites and Neglected Medicine Fuel the Ebola Scourge
Shadows of a pathogen that turns mourning into mortality, the intersection of sacred burial traditions and crumbling healthcare infrastructure creates the perfect corridor for epidemic catastrophe. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-kiss-of-death-how-tribal-rites Specific to this brand new strain of Ebola; how prescient! Moderna Began Developing a Bundibugyo Ebola mRNA “Vaccine” Just 4 Months Before WHO Declared a Global Emergency – Bill Gates-backed CEPI awarded Moderna and Oxford $26.7 million to develop multivalent Ebola mRNA and viral vector shots in January 2026. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/moderna-began-developing-a-bundibugyo
Lots and lots of biowarfare testing on unwitting Americans: Sasha Latypova, Congressional records for Biological Testing Involving Human Subjects by the Department of Defense, 1942-1977 https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/congressional-records-for-biological
It may be the moral duty of some to spread meat allergy to others through ticks: Peer-Reviewed Paper Says Genetically Engineering Ticks to Spread Meat Allergies Is “Morally Obligatory”
Western Michigan professors claim that CRISPR-edited ticks should be used to spread alpha-gal syndrome as “moral bioenhancement” to force humans away from eating meat. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/peer-reviewed-paper-says-geneticallyPaul Marik MD, Vitamin D and Cancer: The Missing Link Oncology Keeps Ignoring – A Tier 1 Anticancer Drug https://substack.com/home/post/p-190157303
Steve Kirsch, Cumulative death slope data from OWID shows very clearly that the vaccines didn’t work
I plotted the cumulative death slope for every COVID wave in every country as a dot on an x-y axis. Then I fit a line through the dots. The line slopes up. That means the shots didn’t work. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/cumulative-death-slope-data-from Steve Kirsch, UK data shows vaccinated died more during COVID waves. Whoops!
Grok claims I spread misinformation so I challenged Grok to show me the best data source and method proving that I was wrong. The data and method suggested by Grok showed I was right. Whoops! https://kirschsubstack.com/p/uk-data-shows-vaccinated-died-moreStarmer Hit With Legal Threat After Barring Conservative Speakers From Entering UK For National Rally https://www.zerohedge.com/political/starmer-hit-legal-threat-after-barring-conservative-speakers-entering-uk-national-rally
Watch: Vance Urges UK Patriots To Defend Their Culture Against Starmer Mass Migration Betrayal https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-vance-urges-uk-patriots-defend-their-culture-against-starmer-mass-migration
Residents Of UK Town Forced To Form ‘Vigilante’ Security Team To Protect Women And Kids From Migrants
Residents of a quiet East Sussex town have been left with no choice but to patrol their own streets after the leftist Labour government dumped hundreds of unvetted male migrants into a former army camp on their doorstep https://www.zerohedge.com/political/residents-uk-town-forced-form-vigilante-security-team-protect-women-and-kids-migrants”Couldn’t let people see bad news and just refuse vaccines, could we?” UK COVID Inquiry’s Endorsement Of Censorship Sets Chilling Precedent https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/uk-covid-inquirys-endorsement-censorship-sets-chilling-precedent
Getting rid of the reformers: EXCLUSIVE: FDA official Tracy Høeg fired after refusing to resign
Høeg says she first learned about rumours of her departure through media reports before being told by FDA officials to resign or be terminated https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/exclusive-fda-official-tracy-hegJohn Leake, The Best Government that Money Can Buy – Ed Gallrein wins the Kentucky Primary, the most expensive in House history https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-best-government-that-money-can
Now That’s The Ticket! Trump’s IRS Settlement Bars Tax Audits Of Trump & Family https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trumps-irs-settlement-bars-tax-audits-trump-family
Just before she dies of cancer; for performing her duty honorably: Colorado Governor Commutes Election Whistleblower Tina Peters’ Sentence https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/05/15/colorado-governor-commutes-election-whistleblower-tina-peters-sentence-n4952919#google_vignette
Germany: 1 in 5 ex-voters of legacy SPD and CDU parties say they would never back them again as AfD extends polling lead
New polling shows the AfD pulling seven points ahead nationally, while state polling points to major gains in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern https://rmx.news/article/germany-1-in-5-ex-voters-of-legacy-spd-and-cdu-parties-say-they-would-never-back-them-again-as-afd-extends-polling-lead/ Nearly half of French voters may support National Rally, and immigration is a major concern
RN “has managed to unite very different electorates around a common foundation,” says the director of one foundation https://rmx.news/article/nearly-half-of-french-voters-may-support-national-rally-and-immigration-is-a-major-concern/But we still can’t have little pick-up trucks: EPA Unwinds Massive Biden-Era Auto Emissions Regulations That Had 2027 Deadline https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/epa-unwinds-massive-biden-era-auto-emissions-regulations-had-2027-deadline
Big Pharma RINO Bill Cassidy Smoked By Trump-Endorsed Candidate In Louisiana Senate Primary https://www.zerohedge.com/political/big-pharma-rino-bill-cassidy-smoked-trump-endorsed-candidate-louisiana-senate-primary
Monday, Thomas Massie Introduces Bill To Finally Force AIPAC To Register As A Foreign Agent Under FARA https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2026-05-18/thomas-massie-introduces-bill-finally-force-aipac-register-foreign-agent-under-fara
Yet hope still remained… Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pro-israel-forces-throw-kitchen-sink-massie-ahead-tuesday-primary
He wouldn’t debate, just ran lots of ads: Massie Out: Gallrein Wins Kentucky Republican Primary https://www.zerohedge.com/political/primaries-held-6-states-what-watch
Simplicius, Russian SVR Hints Strikes on NATO ‘Decision-Making Centers’ After Latest Drone Provocations
New drone incursions took place in Lithuania and Estonia, the latter of which managed to finally become the first NATO state to successfully shoot down such a drone, to euphoric celebrations … Oddly during the latest incident, despite Latvia claiming to have no knowledge of the incurring drone, a NATO patrol craft was operating precisely over Baltic skies … By a very strange coincidence, a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft, the Gulfstream G-IVSP (S102B Korpen), is flying over the area where Ukrainian drones were shot down. Formally, it is monitoring the ongoing Russian-Belarusian military exercises, but the coincidence is surprising.
As another comedic consequence of the latest drone scares, the Latvian oil terminal which was hit by a Ukrainian drone last week is being shut down. That means not only has the entire Latvian government and defense ministry collapsed over this one incident, but even energy infrastructure couldn’t bear the weight of it…
..But the most serious bit of news relating to the drone scare, which validated much of what is presently occurring, came from an official communique published by Russia’s SVR intelligence service. It stated quite directly that Ukraine is “plotting to use Latvia” as a launchpad for strikes…
..”It is on this basis that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is preparing to launch a series of new terrorist attacks on the rear regions of the Russian Federation.
According to the data obtained, Kiev does not intend to limit itself to using the air corridors provided by the Baltic states for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is also planned to launch drones from the territory of these countries. This tactic is intended to significantly reduce the time required to reach targets and increase the effectiveness of terrorist attacks.
Despite the Latvian side’s concerns about becoming a victim of Moscow’s retaliatory strike, the Kiev authorities convinced Riga to agree to the operation.” … “One can only sympathize with the naivety of the Latvian leaders. Modern intelligence tools allow for the reliable determination of the coordinates of the UAV’s launch point.”…
..For what it’s worth, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately denied all Russian allegations, summoning the Russian Charge d’Affaires and lodging a formal complaint in shrill fashion. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/russian-svr-hints-strikes-on-nato US investigates 56 cases of corruption and theft of American weapons in Ukraine
According to a report prepared by the inspectors general of the Pentagon, the State Department, and the now effectively dismantled US Agency for International Development, 13 other investigations have been closed https://tass.com/world/2132743Cuban Foreign Minister Says US Is Building ‘Fraudulent Case’ For Military Action https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cuban-foreign-minister-says-us-building-fraudulent-case-military-action
Cuban Leader Warns Of Potential ‘Bloodbath’ If US Takes Military Action https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cuban-leader-warns-potential-bloodbath-if-us-takes-military-action
Nimitz Carrier Strike Group arrives in the Caribbean as Trump admin ups pressure on Cuba https://nypost.com/2026/05/20/us-news/nimitz-carrier-strike-group-arrives-in-the-caribbean-as-trump-admin-ups-pressure-on-cuba/
Belarus Rattles Europe With Drills Involving Russian Tactical Nukes https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/belarus-rattles-europe-drills-involving-russian-tactical-nukes
Ukraine preparing strikes on Russia from NATO country – Moscow
Latvia’s membership in the bloc will not protect it from Russian retaliation, the Foreign Intelligence Service has warned https://web.archive.org/web/20260519124125/https://www.rt.com/russia/640160-ukraine-drone-latvia-nato/ Kremlin Blasts ‘Borderline Crazy’ Threat From Baltic NATO State
Russia has express outrage and condemnation of what it has on Wednesday denounced as a “borderline crazy threat” from NATO member Lithuania.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys in an interview this week with Neue Zurcher Zeitung provocatively stated that NATO is capable of destroying all Russian bases located in Kaliningrad if necessary. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kremlin-blasts-borderline-crazy-threat-baltic-nato-stateNATO Scrambles Jet, Shoots Down Ukrainian Drone Over Estonia, In War First https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nato-scrambles-jet-shoots-down-errant-ukrainian-drone-over-estonia-war-first
22 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Lebanon in the Last 24 Hours – IDF reiterates evacuation orders for 12 towns https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/19/israeli-strikes-on-southern-lebanon-kill-six-wound-at-least-three/
IDF struggles to throttle endless feed of soldiers posting misdeeds on social media
Troops keep recording their own misconduct, including smashing a statue of Jesus in Lebanon, but the army claims progress in curbing posts that fuel international criticism and risk operational security https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-struggles-to-throttle-endless-feed-of-soldiers-posting-misdeeds-on-social-media/‘Army Will Collapse’ – Draft Evasion, Reserve Exhaustion Deepen Israeli Military Crisis https://www.palestinechronicle.com/army-will-collapse-draft-evasion-reserve-exhaustion-deepen-israeli-military-crisis/
South African Farming Crisis May Trigger Food Shortages Across The Continent https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/south-african-farming-crisis-may-trigger-food-shortages-across-continent
UBS Reactivates Supply-Chain Stress Watch After Detecting Alarmingly Rapid Deterioration https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ubs-reactivates-supply-chain-stress-watch-after-detecting-alarmingly-rapid-deterioration
