[John Day]

What I am seeing is a piling of blame onto “Netanyahu” ahead of October elections “he” is expected to lose. I think “he” has been AI images and a body double since an early March Iranian missile strike. This could be a convenient transition: Alastair Crooke: Netanyahu’s réprise of the ‘Iraq WMD deceit’ – re-launched to promote war on Iran https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/08/15/netanyahus-reprise-of-the-iraq-wmd-deceit-re-launched-to-promote-war-on-iran/

This is particularly sly if Netanyahu is dead: Turkey Issues Arrest Warrant For Netanyahu, Seeks Interpol Red Notice https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/turkey-issues-arrest-warrant-netanyahu-seeks-interpol-red-notice

Poll Shows Voters Reject US-Israel Military Integration – 61% of respondents oppose legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 that would integrate Israeli weapons companies into the Pentagon at a level exceeding that of any other country. That figure rose to 78% among Democrats and 73% among independents. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/poll-shows-voters-reject-us-israel-military-integration

Caitlin Johnstone, Our Entire Civilization Is Run By Oligarchs And Empire Managers
Zionists promote Islamophobia because convincing westerners to hate Muslims is easier than convincing them to like Israel.
This is a fact, not an opinion. Last year Drop Site News published a leaked polling report that had been commissioned by the Israeli government which found that while Israel’s reputation is crumbling throughout the western world, one way to salvage it would be to foment panic about Muslims.
Drop Site reports the following:
“Israel’s best tactic to combat this, according to the study, is to foment fear of ‘Radical Islam’ and ‘Jihadism,’ which remain high, the research finds. By highlighting Israeli support for women’s rights and gay rights while elevating concerns that Hamas wants to ‘destroy all Jews and spread Jihadism,’ Israeli support rebounded by an average of over 20 points in each country. ‘Especially once the situation in Gaza is resolved, the room for growth in all countries is very significant,’ the report concludes.”
So if you speak critically about Israel online and suddenly find your replies inundated with Zionists shrieking about Islam and Muslims, that’s why. Their research has concluded that convincing westerners to hate Muslims is easier than convincing them to love Israel. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/our-entire-civilization-is-run-by

A coverup: After More Than Two Years, Israel Admits to Firing on Car Carrying Five-Year-Old Hind Rajab and the Ambulance Sent To Rescue Her
Israel has admitted that its forces fired on a car that was carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by the IDF along with six members of her family as they were attempting to flee Gaza City on January 29, 2024.
Hind was the only survivor of an initial attack on the vehicle and was surrounded by six dead family members as she spent hours on the phone with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS) pleading for help. The PCRS waited until it had authorization from the Israeli military to dispatch an ambulance to the area and send it along a route provided by the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
Despite the coordination with the IDF, once the two Palestinian paramedics arrived, they were fired on by Israeli tanks and killed. Hind was still alive after the blast that killed the paramedics and was speaking on the phone with her mother, but the PCRS lost contact with her shortly after. Nearly two weeks later, after the IDF withdrew from the area, the body of Hind, her six family members, and the paramedics, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, were recovered. https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/19/after-more-than-two-years-israel-admits-to-firing-on-car-carrying-five-year-old-hind-rajab-and-medics-sent-to-rescue-her/

[John Day]

Michael Hudson and Steve Keen: The Federal Reserve, the Constitution, and the End of US Hegemony
Michael Hudson: Well, Steve, don’t knock the bubble. That is what has been supporting the dollar and the whole economy. After the United States went off gold, it could pump dollars into the world economy through military spending, deindustrialize, and run a trade deficit. Those dollars ended up in the hands of foreign central banks, which recycled them by treating them as the new form of monetary reserves. In the last few years, the great support for the U.S. balance of payments has been private inflows into U.S. stock and bond markets. The bubble has had two effects. All the growth in America’s wealth has taken the form of rising stock, bond, and real-estate prices, and almost all of it has accrued to the wealthiest ten percent—mainly the top one percent. The other 99 percent have had no increase at all in their wealth, while the bottom 40 percent run deeper and deeper into net debt every year. This money is coming in while polarizing the U.S. economy.
The United States has become the target of the Japanese carry trade, for instance: investors in countries with low interest rates borrow cheaply and speculate in U.S. stock and bond markets. The zero-interest-rate policy created the largest bond-market boom in American history. Right now, I don’t know any major investor among the people I talk to who thinks they can make any more money in stocks and bonds. They are just trying to preserve what they have gained since 2009, when the Obama bubble began. Yet foreigners, retail investors, and pension funds have all been putting money into this. Some economists call this the confidence fairy. But as Steve and I have been saying, this bubble cannot be sustained. By the end of this year, when there is a world depression from the oil war, you are going to see breaks in the financial chain of payments, defaults, foreclosures, and a huge transfer of property from debtors to creditors amid a worldwide breakdown.
If you are very rich and have enough billions of dollars to be a player, it is much easier to get wealthy very quickly in a situation of economic collapse than through economic growth. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/08/michael-hudson-and-steve-keen-the-federal-reserve-the-constitution-and-the-end-of-us-hegemony.html

What Will Burst It: Ed Dowd Warns AI Is The Biggest Bubble Of All Time
Dowd sees the same bubble signs in AI (artificial intelligence) as he did just before the Dot-com bubble blew up.
This time around, it’s far worse. Dowd says: “Being a student of history gives you an idea of where you might go in the future. Currently, we have the greatest bubble of all time, and that is the AI bubble.
It is in the process of becoming exposed, and people are beginning to issue warning signals. Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has issued a warning . . . about the AI risk. He’s worried people are too concentrated in this trade…
First of all, there is not even enough power to power these data centers. That’s going to halt the CapEx (Capital Expenditure) on its own accord.
There is so much capital that has to be raised that will compete with government debt, there will be a crowding out effect.
The costs to finance this are going to keep going higher and higher, and this will cause some bankruptcies . . . and then it all unwinds.” …
..Dowd says, “It would not surprise me to see a 40% to 50% correction at some point…”
” Calling when that is going to happen is very difficult. I don’t suggest anyone short the market, but it seems like we are getting closer to the end game when people are openly calling this a bubble.
People say the bubble does not pop until everybody believes. That’s not true. There were plenty of people during the 2000 Dot-com bubble who knew it was a bubble.
They actually played it, and the game was ‘get out before everybody else gets out.’ So, people know it’s a bubble. The question is what will burst it?
That is the credit markets and private credit, which has been a big source of funding for AI that is under stress. There is a default cycle coming, and general backdrop of the real economy is quite weak. The consumer is not doing well. Walmart just reported, and it had the lowest same store sales in six years… The general population is not doing well, the housing market is rolling over… https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/what-will-burst-it-ed-dowd-warns-ai-biggest-bubble-all-time

About a managed-default on $US debt to gold at $20k-30k/oz: Gold: From DC’s “Enemy” To Its Last Hope?
After decades of exporting US inflation to the rest of the world, the increasingly diluted and unloved dollar is no longer just the world’s problem, it’s America’s problem as well.
Which means that what Bessent and Trump (as well as Judy Shelton) are subtly suggesting is that gold is no longer our “enemy.”
Instead, and quite ironically, gold is now one of America’s last options to de-deficit at least a portion of its fiscal nightmare.
Rather than Repress Gold, Let It Run – Or stated even more simply, it is now in the USA’s best interest to let gold run rather than to price fix it lower on a COMEX which has lost both its gold and credibility as China and Hong Kong move from paper-based exchanges to physical precious metal exchanges.
Gold at $4,000/oz., for example, won’t help the USA de-deficit nearly as much as it could if gold were at $17,000/oz., $20,000/oz or higher (in fact much higher) in the years to come.
And if you are wondering why central banks are stacking more gold than USTs today, it’s partly because that is precisely where they see gold heading: Much higher. http://zerohedge.com/precious-metals/gold-dcs-enemy-its-last-hope

Little by little… Pentagon says over 750 US troops wounded during war on Iran
A US official said the Pentagon’s counting method aimed to hide the true number of wounded, with estimates reaching 900 https://thecradle.co/articles/pentagon-says-over-750-us-troops-wounded-during-war-on-iran

Talks Collapse – Tariffs Begin Now – A Direct and Confrontational U.S-Canada Trade War is Now a Reality
When USTR Jamieson Greer and Canadian negotiator Dominic LeBlanc said the terms were “basically agreed”, again CTH said be careful.
The reason for our notes of extreme caution is because the divide between the two economies and trade policy is just too big. There was no way for both sides to close the gap without major structural economic changes within Canada. The issues are not points of friction, they are just too big and embedded within the laws of Canada that would have to change.
Banking regulations would have to change. Intellectual property and media rules, regulations and laws would have to change. Industrial policy would have to change. The Canadian energy policy would have to change. The carbon trading scheme would have to change or be removed. All of this would fall upon Canada to carry out in order to position their economy in alignment with the USA. There’s literally no way for their government to accomplish this against the backdrop of their political ideology.
That was the structural argument and point made by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This is also why the USMCA as a trilateral trade agreement is impossible to maintain. The only trade agreement construct possible is two clearly separate bilateral free trade agreements, one with Mexico and one with Canada… A trade war is underway. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/22/talks-collapse-tariffs-begin-now-a-direct-and-confrontational-u-s-canada-trade-war-is-now-a-reality/#more-286245

[John Day]

Our lif-support systems run on diesel. Supplies are already short: Transport voyages take months. Gold & Geopolitics, Running on empty – Buffered calm
Heating oil and the “crack spread” is signaling something is amiss, but both Brent and WTI are massaged to not signal very much.
I’m foreseeing a major repricing, absent any real ceasefire, or EVEN with a real ceasefire, oil’s not going to run very soon.
Same story as with silver: huge deficit, above-ground vaults being run down. The big difference is that oil is a visible product. If it’s not there, everyone will notice.
So line up your calendars: Nov: midterms, Jan 27: no Russian gas for the EU, early Feb: Norway should finish their repairs. And through all this time, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz are blocked.
Yep, everything’s fine. The gov says so. https://no01.substack.com/p/running-on-empty

‘Perfect storm’ brews for global food supply this winter as grain prices soar https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/21/grain-price-russia-food-supply.html

Food Supply Alert: Ukraine Grain Exports Collapse As Black Sea Attacks Choke Global Shipments https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/food-supply-alert-ukraine-grain-exports-collapse-black-sea-attacks-choke-global

European Union on the Brink of Severe Food Crisis – It appears the EU food crisis is already beginning to take hold. With recent weather disasters caused by extreme heatwaves across the continent, local agricultural productivity is expected to plummet. This compounds an existing scenario of decline in the European agribusiness sector and sanctions against Russia – formerly a key supplier of agricultural goods to Europe. Now, European countries face the likely prospect of reduced food supplies alongside an exponential rise in prices. https://www.globalresearch.ca/eu-brink-severe-food-crisis/5937634

Martin Armstrong, The Strait of Hormuz Is Repricing the Entire World Economy
The more serious warning is coming from refined products, particularly diesel. Politicians obsess over crude because that is the price quoted every evening on television. Yet modern civilization runs on diesel. Trucks transport food and consumer goods, farmers operate machinery, construction companies run heavy equipment, and emergency generators protect hospitals and critical infrastructure. When diesel rises, the cost of virtually everything rises with it.
Governments will pretend that this inflation is temporary or caused by greedy corporations. They said the same thing after the monetary expansion of 2020. Inflation is never politically convenient because it exposes the true cost of government policy. A war financed through borrowing does not require politicians to present taxpayers with an immediate bill. The expense is transferred into sovereign debt, currency depreciation, and higher prices. The public pays through the destruction of purchasing power, while officials continue claiming that military operations can be conducted without domestic sacrifice…
..The Strait of Hormuz is becoming a tax imposed upon the entire world economy. It will appear in freight costs, food prices, utility bills, interest rates, government deficits, and eventually elections. Western leaders will blame Iran, corporations, speculators, or climate change before admitting that their endless wars carry an economic price. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/world-trade/the-strait-of-hormuz-is-repricing-the-entire-world-economy/

[John Day]

​Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-25
The “Economic D-Day” everyone had circled arrived and turned out to be a warning shot: Bessent published an OFAC list across five pillars, threatened dollar-system expulsion for anyone helping Iran, then declined to fire the secondary sanctions because – his words – he doesn’t want to blow up the global financial system.
​ Overnight, a US-escorted tanker was struck and disabled inside the Strait of Hormuz, and the Houthis put an anti-ship ballistic missile into a Saudi VLCC from over 1,000km.
​ The other genuinely new thing: Stanley Druckenmiller took to the WSJ to publicly dismantle his former protégé’s bond-buyback plan, hours after Treasury floated tapping its ~$950B cash account to fund it.​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-25

​ Bessent Drops Iran Sanctions Hammer On Dozens Of Chinese Firms, Spares Big Banks As Beijing Threatens Retaliation
The Trump administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast” has expanded the sanctions campaign across China and Hong Kong, targeting dozens of individuals and businesses while intentionally holding off on sanctioning major Chinese banks that keep Tehran connected to the global financial system. Beijing, meanwhile, signaled earlier Tuesday that it would not retreat from its economic relationship with Iran, raising the risk that Trump’s economic war against Tehran could evolve into a direct confrontation with China, the largest buyer of discounted Iranian crude.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bessent-drops-iran-sanctions-hammer-dozens-chinese-firms-spares-big-banks-beijing

Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-24
The big delta is that Bessent’s “economic D-Day” against Iran stops being a threat and becomes a scheduled event – press conference today 1 PM ET, with Tehran’s security council answering that participating countries will be treated as belligerents. Second delta: the “Hormuz traffic explodes 400%” headline propagated across the feed while the people counting hulls put daily crossings in single digits. Everything else – gold through $4,700, Ozon warehouses burning across southern Russia, NVDA Wednesday as the AI trade’s fulcrum – is continuation with a specific 24h advance.
Bessent announces “economic D-Day” begins at dawn; presser today 1 PM ET. His own words: “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary”, objective to “sever every economic lifeline” …The threat extends to third parties: “any nation that serves as a financial artery of a withering regime should expect to share in its isolation” (MenchOsint).
Iran’s response pre-commits to zero exports. Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaee: “if the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf”, and participation in sanctions will be read as an act of war (MoloWarMonitor). Both principals have now defined the other’s survival as the stake (SCapStrategist).
The “Hormuz traffic +400%” number collapses on inspection. Headline ran wide (zerohedge, warwatchh). Counter-evidence: crossings “still in single digits” (chigrl), weekend levels still 90%+ below pre-28 February (thesiriusreport), and small craft counted as ships (JustDario). The base is so small that “1 boat to 4 boats” produces the percentage (HeroDividend)…
..Tanker struck by projectile 63NM west of Yanbu, northern Red Sea. UKMTO Warning Attack 119, fire on main deck, crew safe, reported 07:44 UTC today (ILRedAlert). That is far north of Bab el-Mandeb – the leg Saudi re-routing was supposed to keep safe…
..Trump has “almost no remaining economic pressure left except massive fines on Chinese banks and refiners”; if he takes it, bullish oil, bearish stocks, and China has signalled retaliation via critical minerals and refining (Mark4XX)…
..Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have invited Iran into the newly-established Mecca Joint Defence Agreement; Iran’s parliamentary news agency head says “the matter is under consideration” (FirstSquawk, JSchanzer). Sceptical read from the OSINT side: NATO members and US allies inviting Iran into a defensive alliance makes little sense (MenchOsint)…
..Gold: through $4,700 for the first time since mid-May, and China’s real buying is roughly double the reported number – China bought an estimated +40 tonnes via London OTC in June – 167% above the +15t the PBoC reported – after +48t in May against +10t reported; officially +20t in July, +60t YTD, 2,366t total (KobeissiLetter).
Customs data: 865 tonnes of gold imported January-June, +90% YoY, contributing 1.5% to GDP (oriental_ghost). Reserve rotation is the frame – gold up, Treasuries down (RiseHarvest)…
..Treasuries: the Fed now owns over half the 10-15 year bucket, and Trump names the ultimate intervention – The Fed owns more than 50% of all Treasuries maturing 10-15 years out (zerohedge, Barchart).
Asked whether another intervention was coming after yields backed up, Trump: “We have many types of intervention. The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will.” (JoshPhilipPhair)…
..Oil: SPR at a 1982 low, 41 days of crude cover, and US airports short of jet fuel – US crude inventory down to 41 days, lowest in half a century (Barchart); SPR at its lowest since 1982 (Barchart)…
..AI: NVDA Wednesday, Alibaba’s $10.2B discounted raise, and Unitree down 38.9% from its post-IPO high – The chip/memory trade peaked the day total return swap funding costs hit a record – leverage masquerading as narrative (zerohedge). SOXX red on a Sunday night (buccocapital).
NVDA is now “bailing out a good chunk of its customer base”, which the market keeps reading as bullish (JustDario)…
..Power is the binding constraint: AI chip electricity demand projected at ~315GW globally by 2033, +1,100% from 2025, US ~200GW of it, with training runs spiking usage 50% above design capacity (KobeissiLetter). Nuclear and data centres have announced 52GW+ of US capacity partnerships (chigrl)…
..North Korea announces intent to sign a defense agreement with Iran (RothLindberg). If real, it changes the deterrence arithmetic Bessent is assuming.
US-South Korea cancelled the Ssangyong amphibious exercise because US forces are stretched by the Iran war, decided in July, before Ulchi Freedom Shield was separately cut from 11 days to 5 (MilitarySummary). Force-posture cost of the campaign, showing up in the Pacific. LOW
US casualties in the Iran war reported at 774 – 18 killed, 756 wounded – per Pentagon data via WaPo (OrlaCarlinn)…
..Canada expects a trade war lasting past the midterms (zerohedge); Carney calls it “at war” over trade and says Washington “miscalculated” (wmiddelkoop). The counter-case is that Canada is being asked only to block Chinese transshipment, which Mexico already agreed to (BaldingsWorld). https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-24

Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-23
Two things broke overnight: Canada walked away from the trade table and will match US tariffs dollar-for-dollar from September 8, and Trump said out loud that “the ultimate intervention is our military” – about the bond market. Meanwhile the administration’s claim that 40 tankers and 16 million barrels cleared Hormuz on Friday night collapsed within hours against Kpler data, SAR imagery and Iran’s own denial. Bessent holds a press conference Monday 2PM EST on the next sanctions phase; Iran has already published its target list. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-23

Our lif-support systems run on diesel. Supplies are already short: Transport voyages take months. Gold & Geopolitics, Running on empty – Buffered calm
Heating oil and the “crack spread” is signaling something is amiss, but both Brent and WTI are massaged to not signal very much.
I’m foreseeing a major repricing, absent any real ceasefire, or EVEN with a real ceasefire, oil’s not going to run very soon.
Same story as with silver: huge deficit, above-ground vaults being run down. The big difference is that oil is a visible product. If it’s not there, everyone will notice.
So line up your calendars: Nov: midterms, Jan 27: no Russian gas for the EU, early Feb: Norway should finish their repairs. And through all this time, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz are blocked.
Yep, everything’s fine. The gov says so. https://no01.substack.com/p/running-on-empty

[John Day]

Shooting Blanks https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/shooting-blanks

Some of looking at the current progression of history see a crisis of declining empire, hastened by large scale financial speculation on wars and conquests that became money pits instead of meal-tickets. This empire looks different to various eyes, but I see global finance as being it’s functional core, extracting wealth of nations wherever the imperial currency is invested and spent. This financial center was formerly in The City of London, though it is now also in New York, Frankfurt, Paris and Tel Aviv, as well as other outposts. It is a unified control system for global “free-trade” which invests in extracting valuable resources from every country, enriching pliant elites and global financiers. Various militaries and covert operations form enforcement arms.
This ravenous system consumes natural resources and spends the profits to consume exponentially more. The world is now at the limit of that process, which is causing existential clashes ahead of the financial crisis of an exponential debt bubble imploding, pricked by the reality of declining physical wealth to service it.
It is not the case that human needs cannot be met for the rest of our lives by the material goods still available on our fair planet, but they cannot be met by the present colonialist free-trade system that extracts, impoverishes and enforces its mandate violently wherever it goes.
Alex Krainer presents the case that the world is faced with 2 systems, the colonialist system, and the “American system” described in 1861 by Abraham Lincoln’s chief economic advisor Henry C. Carey. It served the United States and Germany in that century, and served postwar Germany and Japan in the 20th century, now China in the post-Mao era.
Operation Economic Outcast threatens to permanently expel from the $US global financial system, any “entity” that trades with Iran, helping to bypass economic sanctions. Expelling China, Russia, India, Pakistan and perhaps Turkey from the $US financial system would certainly teach Iran a lesson.
I am struck by the whimsical thought that the best way to rob a bank is to own one, and by extension, the best position from which to collapse an empire may be that of the ruler of the empire, through hubris, or perhaps the subtle-paradox of presenting the appearance of hubris to accomplish that end.. You decide. 😉

Alex Krainer, Two systems are before the world, part 1 of 3
We’re experiencing the conflict between two systems of governance. Understanding what that means could be the most important knowledge we need today…
..In a nutshell, the national system seeks to create protective barriers to foreign trade in order to give the domestic manufacturing a fighting chance against foreign competition. It also accumulates capital at home, investing it into manufacturing, infrastructure, education, research and development, innovation, culture and other uses that raise the society’s living standards.
By contrast, the British system of free trade extracts wealth and concentrates it: it seeks to remove all barriers to worldwide free flow of capital, always in pursuit of highest possible returns. With free trade, nations are obliged to compete for investment capital by systematically depressing wages, job security, pensions, health care services and education.
Other costs which cut into the returns on capital are infrastructure development, social spending programs and protection of the environment. Therefore, competing globally for investment capital entails progressive slashing of all these cost items, down to the bare bones. In that sense, British free trade system amounts to a competitive race to the bottom. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/two-systems-are-before-the-world

US launches Operation Economic Outcast to sever Iran’s financial ‘lifelines’
Directed by US President Donald Trump, the “unprecedented” sanctions target Iran’s “most vital lifelines,” including aviation, shipping, gold, technology, and digital assets, Bessent said.
Bessent warned that any entity facilitating money laundering for Tehran will be permanently removed from the US dollar system.
“I would expect that you will see a major announcement of a financial institution being sanctioned by the end of this week,” he further said without elaborating. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/us-israel-iran-war/us-launches-operation-economic-outcast-to-sever-irans-financial-lifelines/4036199

“Operation Economic Outcast” Begins: Bessent Warns Countries Helping Iran Face Expulsion From Dollar System https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/entering-endgame-bessent-unveil-economic-d-day-assault-isolate-iran

China Firmly Rejects US Demand To Back Its ‘Most Crushing Economic Operation’ Against Iran
Asked specifically about the latest comments of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Lin emphasized the need for all parties to take “responsible measures” in resolving the war. “China opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council,” Lin said. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-firmly-rejects-us-demand-back-its-most-crushing-economic-operation-against-iran

[John Day]

Welcome back to Samsara, DBS. What did you do while you were away?
;-}
TBOC noticed your absence… Did’ja get my email?

[John Day]

Hi TAE Summary, “I’m traveling light” ;-}

[John Day]

I saw a Tesla Robo-cab in traffic on my bike ride in Austin theis morning, about 1/4 mile from a Tesla dealer. It debuts in a week.

[John Day]

The trade-war with Canada is a salvo against China colonizing Canada, I think.
Chinese drug gangs seem to be largely directing Canadian national politics in the port cities, from what I have read.

[John Day]

This is the mark of a Zionist operative, “controlled opposition”:

“Assassination Sing-a-Long: Hasan Piker Mocks the Murdered Charlie Kirk to Cheering Crowd”

[John Day]

That row of Philly cybercabs look like something out of Goldfinger, like when they spray-painted the girl in the bikini gold to kill her. ;-(

[John Day]

@Zerosum: I still think it’s virtual-“Netanyahu” and a dull body double that likes to listen to Sarah and Hegseth.

[John Day]

1) @TBOC: I have not heard from DBS yet.

2) I like “Sinkin’ Lincoln” ;-D

[John Day]

​Jessica Rose Ph.D. (Please see top comment) What did Anthony Fauci mean when he wrote “GAME ON!!!”?​ Thoughts following meditation on this question https://jessicar.substack.com/p/what-did-anthony-fauci-mean-when

“Misinformation” disputes government narratives: BMJ Retracts 2024 Excess Deaths Paper for the Sin of Spreading “Misinformation” https://www.soniaelijah.com/p/bmj-retracts-2024-excess-deaths-paper

Sasha Latypova highlights an alternate form of “solving”: Whitney Webb: “Solving Racism by Vaccination?” https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/whitney-webb-solving-racism-by-vaccination

John Leake, NIAID’s David Morens Pleads Guilty to Concealing Records of Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research Grant – Like Al Capone going to jail for income tax evasion. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/niaids-david-morens-pleads-guilty

John Leake, What Were Morens & His Co-Conspirators Doing? – Analyzing what Fauci’s senior advisor was trying to accomplish with Peter Daszak and Gerald Keusch https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/what-were-morens-and-his-co-conspirators

[John Day]

​ How Can This Be Real?​ The Home Office in the United Kingdom is now handing asylum seekers a nine-page booklet and posters spelling out that rape is illegal, sex with children is a crime, women are equal to men, and you cannot mutilate girls’ genitals.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-can-be-real

​ Caitlin Johnstone, Today In Dystopia: “We Have Cameras Everywhere In That Town”
Today in dystopia, police have been wrongfully arresting people based on faulty information from AI-assisted Flock surveillance footage instead of actually investigating the evidence of the crime.
​ In an article titled “She Spent 7 Months in Legal Hell After Cops Used Flock Surveillance To Identify the Wrong Car,” Reason Magazine documents multiple instances of innocent people having their lives upended in legal battles because police slammed them with charges based on incorrect Flock camera data which could have easily been ruled out by some basic verification.​ https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/today-in-dystopia-we-have-cameras

​ The Orwellian Company Behind ICE’s New Electric Shock Gloves​ – “With a glove, there are no burn marks or scars.” That makes it hard for victims to sue.
​ “We have a saying: Feeling is believing,” Compliant Technologies CEO Jeff Niklaus said in one 2022 YouTube video. In promotional clips, you can see people losing control of their limbs, falling to the ground, and crying out in pain after a light touch from the GLOVE. In 2022, the company called it a “weapon” in Instagram posts. Since then, though, it’s downgraded the language to “a Conductive Distraction and De-escalation device,” branding the technology on its website as “humane.”
​ Human rights organizations like Amnesty International have long raised concerns about electric shock devices like the GLOVE, as well as other products that Compliant Technologies sells, like electric shock belts and vests, which the company recommends for prisoner transport, courtroom use, and use on “combative individuals” during medical procedures like blood draws.​ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/ice-shock-gloves-torture-compliant-technologies-jeff-niklaus/

​ The gelatin in the shots can induce alpha-gal allergy: BREAKING: First-Ever Study Links Vaccines to the Explosion of Alpha-Gal Syndrome
More than 90% of U.S. children are injected with alpha-gal-bearing mammalian gelatin before school entry, raising the possibility of direct sensitization or immune priming before a later tick bite.​ https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-first-ever-study-links-vaccines

​ FDA Data Reanalysis Sent to HHS Finds Moderna’s mRNA Flu Shot Approval Should Be Immediately Withdrawn
We directly reanalyzed the FDA’s own data used to approve mFLUSIVA and found an extreme risk-benefit profile that is impossible to justify.​ https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-fda-data-reanalysis-sent

[John Day]

​ Is it almost time to have presidential elections and negotiate a capitulation to Russia? Simplicius, Ukraine’s Economy Braces for Disaster as Zelensky Faces New Political Challenge https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/ukraines-economy-braces-for-disaster

China is serious about Japan not having (their own) nukes, but I wonder about Russia. Andrew Korybko, The Chinese Ambassador To Russia Issued An Ominous Warning To Japan https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-chinese-ambassador-to-russia

A coastal gas pipeline from Nigeria to Spain is planned. Andrew Korybko, The West African Pipeline Is Inherently Geopolitical https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-west-african-pipeline-is-inherently

Hellish: Ceuta Mothers Weep In Streets; Rapes Force Women To Flee; Kids’ Parks Smeared In Shit​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hellish-ceuta-mothers-weep-streets-rapes-force-women-flee-kids-parks-smeared-shit

Ceuta Cops Claim Invaders Are Dragging Girls Into Mountains For Gang-Rapes​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ceuta-cops-claim-invaders-are-dragging-girls-mountains-gang-rapes

[John Day]

Israel outsourcing coercion to settlers in occupied West Bank: UN’s Albanese​ https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/08/17/774508/Israel-outsourcing-coercion-settlers-West-Bank–UN%E2%80%99s-Albanese

​ Qusra is where Israel’s lies about settler violence hit a wall​ – This method of ethnic cleansing, whereby settlers establish an outpost, force the families out, and take over their property, has succeeded countless times across the West Bank. In Qusra, the news cycle noticed before it was too late.​ https://israelpalestinenews.org/qusra-is-where-israels-lies-about-settler-violence-hit-a-wall/

​ Three Palestinian families in the Jabal Ras al-Ain area of Qusra in the northern occupied West Bank have remained under siege by Israeli occupiers for 11 consecutive days, in the latest in a series of attacks targeting Palestinian residents and their land over the years.
​ Since Aug. 9, occupiers, under the protection of the Israeli army, have surrounded three homes housing around 13 Palestinians in the town south of Nablus governorate, obstructing the delivery of basic necessities.​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/collusion-between-israeli-army-occupiers-seeks-to-reshape-palestinian-reality/4032271

​ Aid workers under fire as drones reshape warfare​ – The UN is warning that aid workers face a deadly and evolving threat, with armed drones reshaping battlefields worldwide – putting humanitarian teams increasingly in the line of fire.​ https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168153

Israel preparing execution wing for Palestinian prisoners, rights group warns​ https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/08/19/368616/

[John Day]

Bessent: Aim Is To ‘Collapse’ Iran Regime Through Economic Warfare, But US Unlikely To Restart Major Combat​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-fm-says-trumps-economic-d-day-threat-diversion-which-will-fail-new-carrier

Futures Slide As Treasury Yields Surge, Erasing Bessent Intervention, Driven By Oil Spike​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/futures-slide-treasury-yields-surge-erasing-bessent-intervention-driven-oil-spike

“Doom Loop” Engaged: US Debt Hits $40 Trillion As Treasury Enters The Endgame​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/doom-loop-engaged-us-debt-hits-40-trillion-america-enters-endgame

​ Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, Iran War: Further Admission of Weakness With New Super Duper Trump Sanctions Threat; Israel Moves Against Turkiye Risk Broader Conflagration; Bessent at Odds with Fed in Move to Contain Longer-Dated Treasury Yields
​ To the Israel attack on Turkiye military operations in Syria. Douglas Macgregor provides excellent one-stop shopping in a new talk with Mario Nawfal. Recall that Macgregor is a serious military historian and has repeatedly admired the Turks as a nation with a strong martial tradition, and currently a very accomplished fighting force. Macgregor provides detail on how the Israel strike was essentially a warning shot, killing no Turkiye soldiers and perhaps not even damaging any assets. But Macgregor seems to believe that Turkiye has also not meaningfully bulked up at that base, as in Israel was trying to ward that off. Macgregor regards that as destined to fail.
​ Macgregor regards the Israel move as reckless, particularly now when Israel is clearly overextended. He also sees an escalation to direct confrontations as risking a much bigger regional war.
​ From a lightly edited machine transcript:
So that much I think we can say when this first began, this sort of Turkish Israeli agreement that we crafted in order to promote the dissolution of Syria, in other words, its liquidation and then its resurrection subsequently in the hands of our friends from ISIS…
​ I said that at the time I thought it was the Middle East’s version of the Nazi Soviet pact in 1939, that it was a temporary cessation of hostilities. It would not last and inevitably there would be an Israeli Turkish war.
​ So I fully expect that that will occur at some point in the future.
​ This is an extraordinarily bad time for Israel to cultivate bad relations with the Turks because the Turks, despite all of the unkind things said by both sides, have continually transported oil from Azerbaijan through Turkey down past Syria and into Israel. The Turks have also sold billions of dollars worth of goods, especially agricultural products to the Israelis. So Erdogan had practiced what he does best, which is to talk out of both sides of his mouth…This has been a sore point, I think, with a lot of people in the in the Muslim world. Most Americans are completely unaware of it…
​ Since then, we’ve seen lots of cooperation between the Iranians and the Turks to deal with the Kurdish problem. And the Kurds, of course, not all of them, but a large portion of them are exceedingly dependent upon Israeli support, arms assistance, and intelligence. And indeed, we cooperated with Mossad in a vain hope of stirring up a Kurdish rebellion/invasion of Iran. The Iranians had them targeted, destroyed them, and I don’t see much evidence that that’s going to happen.
​And of course, the Turks had no interest in letting that be successful either….
​ It’s a very bad idea on the part of the Israelis because in the meantime you’ve had this new alignment Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and everybody has said well what’s it really about? Well contrary to popular belief it’s not about attacking Iran. I’m sorry it is not an anti-Iranian alliance.
​ It has a great deal to do with putting an end ultimately at some point in time to the Greater Israel project. They’re not going to allow that to succeed.​ https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/08/iran-war-further-admission-of-weakness-with-new-super-duper-trump-sanctions-threat-israel-moves-against-turkiye-risk-broader-conflagration-bessent-at-odds-with-fed-in-move-to-contain-longer-dated-t.html

​From Iran: Exclusive: Reports of Iranian missile attack on UAE unfounded; Zionist false flag imprint evident https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/08/18/774638/probe-rejects-claim-Iran-attack-UAE

[John Day]

There Will Be No Alternative https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/there-will-be-no-alternative

The world is burning up emergency reserves of oil, gas and refined fuels, while primary flows remain blocked, as if primary flows are being used, not emergency reserves. This will end suddenly, like Wile-E-Coyote going off a cliff.
Why are we being set up this way?
I remember the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo against countries that supported Israel in the September war. Americans were shocked, even traumatized, sat in gas lines for hours, started buyng VW Beetles, Toyotas and those little Honda cars. We were never the same, though most people now never knew those days.
This will be worse by all calculations. They are not difficult calculations, looking at what percentage of oil has been pulled off the market. It is more than 1973 and 1979 together. The strategic petroleum reserves that were put in place after 1973 are being exhausted, in order to re-create the shock they were designed to prevent.
The global financial system is stressed, chronically stressed, paying too much debt-service for nothing in return, except maintaining the financial system at higher parasitic cost every day. Financial systems re-set under stress periodically, about every 4 generations, like after WW-2, for instance.
Is this prelude to a global financial and economic reset? I have not been consulted or informed, though nobody except the 0.001% gets let in on these things.
The war against oil, gas and fertilizer is a war against people surviving. There will be some alternative other than death presented to us. We are likely to take it.

Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-20
The Treasury blinked. Hours before a 20Y auction that was tracking toward the highest yield on record, Bessent doubled long-end buyback operations from $2bn to $4bn – and total US debt crossed $40 trillion the same afternoon. Gold ripped ~$175, the dollar hit an 11-week low, bitcoin cleared $70k, and GDX had its best day in 52 weeks. Everything else – Hormuz tanker turnbacks, the Kyiv mega-strike, Trump’s “Economic D-Day” on Iran – is running in parallel and got mostly drowned out by the bond desk.​..
​..Treasury: buybacks doubled to $4bn/op, $40T crossed, 20Y auction tails anyway​ – The 20Y priced at 5.204% vs 5.199% WI – a 0.5bp tail, biggest since February, despite the intervention (zerohedge). Without it, the auction would have been the highest-yielding 20Y on record; it closed just inside the Oct ’23 print of 5.245% (zerohedge).
​ 30Y fell ~9bps to 5.196%, 10Y to 4.647%; the 30Y fixed mortgage reached 6.75% on Tuesday, against a 10Y that traded below 4% before the Iran war began in late February (shanaka86).​..
​..Interest cost: total US interest now $1.4tn, on track to pass Social Security’s $1.6tn by 2028 (zerohedge). That’s $3.8bn/day, versus $3.1bn on Medicare and $2.5bn on defense (KobeissiLetter). Monday’s semi-annual coupon payment was $85bn – the largest on record (zerohedge).​..
​..Structural frame of the day from TaviCosta: US debt-to-GDP is now roughly at WWII levels, but back then nearly half of Treasuries were backed by gold – today it’s about 3%.​..
​..Iran weighs striking US military targets inside Europe. FT-sourced: IRGC has assessed strikes on Bulgaria’s Bezmer Air Base and RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus once its 3–4 week ultimatum expires (HormuzLetter, HormuzReport, zerohedge).​..
​..Hormuz: three tankers turned back in 24h against Axios’ claimed 10 mb/d southern route​ – Axios, citing US officials: 10 million barrels a day – roughly half pre-war volume – are moving out of the strait via the Omani coastal route, and “the IRGC can be a nuisance, but they don’t control the strait. We do” (BrettErickson28, zerohedge).
​ The tracking data doesn’t support it. LVision_Trading mapped the Aug 17 satellite pass and found only 2 new STS pairs across Fujairah and Sohar, holding the count at 3.3 mb/d on a 7-day average.
​ Turnbacks are stacking: UAE-owned LPG tanker Yellow Stone pushed back by the IRGC Navy – the second failed transit in 24 hours (MenchOsint); Indian-registered Vaughan turned around overnight (MenchOsint); three China-owned tankers carrying or loading Iraqi crude stopped the day before (MenchOsint). Bloomberg tracked the Sea V and Hestia both U-turning (chigrl).​..
​..Iran: secondary sanctions on “any country” run into the country they can’t sanction​ – RnaudBertrand makes the sharpest structural point: “ANY country” won’t include China. In May the US tried to sanction Chinese refineries for buying Iranian oil; Beijing’s Commerce Ministry issued a formal prohibition order stating the sanctions “shall not be recognized, enforced, or complied with,” and Washington never meaningfully enforced. “ANY country” really means “any country we can actually coerce.”
​ JustDario puts it more bluntly: the “never seen before” sanctions to cripple Iran’s economy turn out to be tariffs on third countries, one year after the tariff programme’s own results.
​ Tehran’s escalation ladder: an Iranian MP argues the best answer is withdrawal from the NPT (MilitarySummary); the IRGC spokesman says warheads in a new war would be “completely different” from previous rounds (PressTV).​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-20

​ Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-19
Two things actually moved: the UAE severed all trade, commercial and financial links with Iran after two ballistic missiles landed in the Gulf, and Trump ordered his envoys to stop talking to Tehran entirely – strategy formally shifted from “hammer” to “strangle”. Underneath that, the long end broke again (US 30Y ~5.33%, France at GFC highs, Japan 2Y at a 33-year high) and Asia went into freefall, with the KOSPI limit-down for the tenth time this year. Everything else – Hormuz transit counts, the diesel crack, the AI credit stack – is continuation, but all three continued in the same direction.​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-19

Well, Duh… Media Accuses Hegseth Of Covering Up USS Lincoln Supply Crisis​ https://www.zerohedge.com/military/media-accuses-hegseth-covering-uss-lincoln-supply-crisis

​Sort-of, “Details at eleven”… “Economic D-Day”: Trump Announces “Most Crushing Economic Operation Ever” Against Iran https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uae-cuts-ties-iran-warns-gulf-states-against-helping-washington-kpler-says-us-navy

[John Day]

@TBOC: You are welcome. I like Mr. Takala, as you descrinbe him. No word back from DBS yet.

@WES: I drew so many drawings on that engineering paper that has little squares covering each page. It’s really good for that. I made each square a foot, or even half a foot. I used straightedges and fine point pens. I kept enough preliminary drawings to show the process. I forget where they are.
I have the big working drawings with coffe and other stains on a shelf.
I was never any good with napkins.

[John Day]

Celia Farber, 2013 Study Found Lipid Nano-Particles Accumulate In The Ovaries Of Every Species Tested: Dr. Michael Yeadon https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/2013-study-found-lipid-nano-particles

​ Meryl Nass MD, New Zealand investigation reveals that govt ministers knew of the high risk of myocarditis to teens before the seond dose, but kept vaccinating them anyway​ – This is just as bad as vaccinating in pregnancy–a deliberate attack on our children​ https://merylnass.substack.com/p/new-zealand-investigation-reveals

​Paul Marik MD, with a topic that is a burning question for some people: Unproven Cancer Treatments: Separating Hope From Evidence – Part 1 https://paulmarik.substack.com/p/unproven-cancer-treatments-separating

Stored agricultural surpluses were worth murdering for, worth defending, and could feed an army. Patrilineal clan societies formed raiding parties, defensible towns and armies. Genghis Khan’s Y chromosome flourished. Most Y chromosomes died out. When Our Simplest Invention Killed 95% Of All Men Alive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXd-iGbxdPE

[John Day]

​ Steve Kirsch with evidence that is strictly avoided: The average age that parents noticed their children became autistic shifted dramatically after the MMR shot rolled out – Listen to this testimony in Congress on April 3, 2000 by Dr. Bernard Rimland. As soon as they rolled at the MMR shot, the average age parents noticed autism shifted to when the MMR was given. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/the-average-age-that-parents-noticed

Steve Kirsch, The autism survey that “they” will never do – Bret Weinstein replicated my autism survey results using his followers. Will any pro-vaccine group show we got it wrong? No. Never. They won’t even try. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/the-autism-survey-that-they-will

​ Breaking Up MMR Vaccine Will Benefit Kids — But It Could Be Years Before Single Shots Are Available
President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for separating the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine into three single-disease vaccines administered at separate medical visits is a long-overdue step in the right direction, according to doctors, scientists and medical freedom advocates who spoke with The Defender. However, it could be years before separate vaccines become available.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/breaking-up-mmr-vaccine-single-shots-benefit-kids-could-take-years/

​ MMR is typically given at 1 & 4 years of age. Measles morbidity and mortality increase after puberty. I’d wait​ 10 years. Vaccine-Maker Claims Splitting MMR Shot Could Take Up To 10 Years​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/splitting-mmr-vaccine-could-take-10-years-merck

​ Franklin O’Kanu, The Complete Vaccine Harm Profile: A Comprehensive Reference Guide – A systematic documentation of vaccine injuries, mechanisms of harm, historical coverups, and real-world evidence https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-complete-vaccine-harm-profile

[John Day]

​ Meta Faces Unprecedented Legal Reckoning Over Youth Mental Health As Massive Multistate Trial Begins
Just weeks after suffering a massive legal defeat in New Mexico, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is now defending itself in a California federal court against a bipartisan coalition of 29 states. The states say Meta deliberately designed its platforms to addict children and harvested their data in violation of federal law.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/meta-faces-unprecedented-legal-reckoning-over-youth-mental-health-massive-multistate

​ Trump’s Executive Order Gives Revived Task Force 90 Days to Produce Vaccine Safety Report
An executive order signed Monday gives the HHS Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines 90 days to produce a report that could shape the nation’s childhood vaccination policy. After decades of ignoring a legal requirement that the task force evaluate and report on vaccine safety, HHS reestablished the task force just months after attorney Ray Flores, with funding from Children’s Health Defense, sued the agency.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/trump-executive-order-task-force-on-safer-childhood-vaccines-90-days-produce-safety-report/

​ ​Fauci would kill himself in his car if he started to talk. Fauci In Hiding As ABC Censorship Bombshell Explodes
Dr. Anthony Fauci just refused a private transcribed interview with Sen. Ron Johnson’s subcommittee. The same week, a former ABC News correspondent revealed that the network gutted a 2021 Wuhan lab leak investigation after the script was sent to Fauci for review.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/fauci-hiding-abc-censorship-bombshell-explodes

​ Meryl Nass MD, Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock (who killed HCQ) asked Fauci and Francis Collins to help study reported vaccine injuries in May 2021 – Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson released another tranche of Fauci documents over the weekend. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/acting-fda-commissioner-janet-woodcock

Celia Farber is dubious, but there are a lot of facts to legally discover: I’ve Changed My Mind: The Fauci Hearings Were Just Political Fish-In-Barrel Shooting: Beware Of Half-Heroes
​ Did You Know The Zelenko Protocol Was Invented By Ralph Baric To Protect THEM In The Event Their Bio- Weapon Sickened Them? What Did David Martin Hand-Deliver To Paul and Johnson, And When?​ https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/ive-changed-my-mind-the-fauci-hearings

[John Day]

Women Flee Ceuta After 15 Rapes Recorded Since Migrant Invasion​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/women-flee-ceuta-after-15-rapes-recorded-migrant-invasion

​ GB News Host Forced From Home By Migrant Gang Death Threats
GB News presenter Patrick Christys was ordered by police to abandon his home in the middle of the night after a credible death threat from the Channel people-smuggling gangs he continues to expose in Calais. The threat-to-life notice from the Metropolitan Police left Christys and his heavily pregnant wife, fellow GB News presenter Emily Carver, packing bags and fleeing to a safe house.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gb-news-host-forced-home-migrant-gang-death-threats

​ Blasphemy Law Is Back: Retired British Police Officer Fined For Islam Joke​
A retired British police officer has been handed a criminal conviction and more than £1,000 in fines for resharing a satirical Facebook meme poking fun at Islam.​..
..The case has sparked fresh warnings that blasphemy laws, abolished in England in 2008, are being revived by the back door – but only for one religion…
​..The second image showed a man in a turban next to a rasher of bacon with the caption: “Fun facts about Bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9-year-old!” That post led to the conviction.​ The judge decided it was about religion rather than politics and was therefore “grossly offensive.”​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/blasphemy-law-back-retired-british-police-officer-fined-islam-joke

Trump’s DOJ Will Reportedly Support End Of National Firearms Act After 92 Years​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trumps-doj-will-reportedly-support-end-national-firearms-act-after-92-years

​ ‘No Guardrails’: Youth Sports Leagues Mandating Digital IDs, Selling Kids’ Biometrics for Profit
National and local youth sports leagues are harvesting children’s biometric data for profit while telling parents it’s a requirement for their child to play, according to Michelle and Doug Bottoms. Attorney Greg Glaser said the practice violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/no-guardrails-youth-sports-leagues-mandate-digital-id-sell-kids-biometrics-profit/

[John Day]

Meryl Nass MD, It was only a matter of time, and the middle east kerfuffle speeded it up: China takes the polar route to Europe
Russia has been expanding its ice cutter fleet. And now Scott Ritter tells us that China will be running weekly container ships through the Arctic to Europe. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/it-was-only-a-matter-of-time-and

It’s an age of economic and population decline that we are entering: Beyond the Age of Growth – An Interview to Ugo Bardi https://senecaeffect.substack.com/p/beyond-the-age-of-growth

The Honest Sorcerer notes that China has about 30 years of coal at the current burn rate: Coal: The Next Chokepoint – How ‘peak coal’ could become China’s Achilles’ heel https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/coal-the-next-chokepoint

When will the bubble pop? WSJ Catches Up, Discovers AI’s Off-Balance Sheet Liabilities Are $3 Trillion And Growing $1.2 Trillion Per Quarter https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wsj-catches-discovers-ais-balance-sheet-liabilities-are-3-trillion-and-growing-12-trillion

Second Ceuta Border Invasion Attempt Underway As Military-Aged Migrants Mass Near Spanish Enclave https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/spains-vox-party-demands-morocco-pay-migration-crisis-ceuta-faces-public-health

[John Day]

Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 11 in Deadliest Lebanon Attack Since June – Israel presents attacks as targeting ‘terrorist infrastructure,’ but hit home full of civilians https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/15/israeli-strikes-kill-at-least-11-in-deadliest-lebanon-attack-since-june/

Israeli Flags on Lebanon Road Violate UN Resolution, UNIFIL Says https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5308090-israeli-flags-lebanon-road-violate-un-resolution-unifil-says

ISRAELI MEDIA: What Israel Began in Gaza Is Spreading to Palestinians Everywhere https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-media-what-israel-began-in-gaza-is-spreading-to-palestinians-everywhere/

Celia Farber, Alex Jones Blasts Tim Pool And Other Influencers For Secret Meetings With Netanyahu; Israel Spent $1.3 Billion Last 18 Months Alone On US Social Media, Says Jones
Receiving Money From Any Entity You Cover Is A Hanging Crime In Journalism. Always Was. Banishment, And The Resignation of All Your Bosses, If You Did This. How Is This Reality? https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/alex-jones-blasts-tim-pool-and-other

Judge Throws Out “Political Prosecution” of Pro-Palestinian University of Michigan Student
The student, Hiab Teshome, is also a graduate student union leader in tense contract negotiations with the school. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/university-michigan-eli-savit-student-pro-palestine-felony-charges-thrown-out

[John Day]

A bullet in the back: Palestinian nurse faces permanent paralysis https://israelpalestinenews.org/a-bullet-in-the-back-palestinian-nurse-faces-permanent-paralysis/

Israeli forces prevent UNICEF water tanker from reaching besieged homes in Qusra https://english-wafa-ps.translate.goog/Pages/Details/173670?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

UN: Nearly 3,000 settler attacks recorded in West Bank since start of 2025 https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/08/17/368473/

US lawmaker urges action against West Bank occupier violence
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urges Trump administration to ‘compel the Israeli government to protect the lives, property and livelihood of innocent Palestinian civilians’ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-lawmaker-urges-action-against-west-bank-occupier-violence/4030049

Thin cloth tents: Gaza: Over two million displaced people face disaster as winter approaches https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/08/17/368479/

[John Day]

US Navy Destroyer Suffered 4-Day Power Outage In Sweltering South China Sea https://www.zerohedge.com/military/us-navy-destroyer-suffered-4-day-power-outage-sweltering-south-china-sea

US Lost 25% Of Its Reaper Drones In Iran War, Officials Estimate https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-lost-25-its-reaper-drones-iran-war-officials-estimate

‘Do What Israel Tells You!’ – Graffiti On USAF Jet Suggests Troops Think War Isn’t For America https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/do-what-israel-tells-you-graffiti-usaf-jet-suggests-troops-think-war-isnt-america

The new leaner, younger, more handsome Ben Gvir again, I see: ‘They’re Not Even People’: Ben Gvir Says Israel Should Kill 30-40 Palestinians in Gaza Every Night – The Israeli minister also said he believes ‘all of Gaza’ belongs to Israel https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/16/theyre-not-even-people-ben-gvir-says-israel-should-kill-30-40-palestinians-in-gaza-every-night/

Report: Kushner-Netanyahu Meeting Ends With Agreement That Israel Will Keep Bombing Gaza https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/17/report-kushner-netanyahu-meeting-ends-with-agreement-that-israel-will-keep-bombing-gaza/

[John Day]

Moon of Alabama, WSJ Unveils Iran ‘Secret’ – Trump Talks With NoKo? – Threat To Oman
This item on Korea smells fishy:
Trump orders military to ‘substantially reduce’ joint exercises with South Korea – NBC News
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has directed the Defense Department to scale down joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the U.S. ally’s refusal to join the war in Iran and his “very good” relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Trump said the large, annual military drills sent a “signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, a nuclear-armed state with which the U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties but which Trump says has been “unthreatening and respectful” as long as he has been president.
The reason Trump is giving for reducing the military maneuvers with South Korea is not serious. No country but Israel has seriously joined the U.S. in its War on Iran.
There is something else going on.
A reduction or end to U.S. maneuvers with South Korea has often been a pre-condition by North Korea for entering into talks.
Trump’s statement is therefore likely an opener for negotiations over some kind of peace agreement with North Korea.
Trump may hope for a fast ‘victory’ as peace-makers before the midterm elections. Unfortunately he and his stooges are incapable of doing the methodical work necessary, and of offering the serious concessions needed, to get any results. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/08/wsj-unveils-iran-secret-trump-talks-with-noko-threat-to-oman.html

​ Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-18
The US-Iran memorandum expired yesterday and Tehran answered by declaring a “fully offensive” posture, then striking a merchant vessel inside the US-escorted southern Hormuz corridor overnight – casualties, engine-room fire, and Trump still saying he has “total control” of the strait.
​ Meanwhile the diesel crack broke $100 for the first time on record and the global long end kept snapping: US 30Y ~5.31%, JGB 10Y at 2.95%, France at 2009 highs.
​ Copper’s LME backwardation hit its widest since the 2021 squeeze, and Nvidia put a reported $105bn guarantee behind an 8GW OpenAI campus in Ohio.​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-18

Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-17
The 60-day US-Iran memorandum lapsed over the weekend and nothing replaced it – Iran’s leadership responded by ordering the IRGC into “offensive form,” and Hormuz recorded zero commodity crossings on Sunday. Second delta: Trump cut US-South Korea exercises after Seoul refused to join the Iran war, leaving Asia with no US carrier, while Japan’s 10-year yield hit 2.91% (a 1996 high) and copper printed a record close with the widest LME backwardation since 2021…
..Iran: the MoU lapses into an IRGC-led offensive posture, with nuclear chatter on the fringe – WSJ reporting says Tehran’s hardliners read the pact as a stalling device and spent the two months preparing for a bigger fight: IRGC given more control over the regular army, Iran-Iraq war veterans into key posts, counterintelligence expanded, missile and drone production ramped (HFI_Research).
Army Commander Maj. Gen. Hatami: the Strait will “never return to its previous state,” control is now a condition for ending the war and won’t be surrendered diplomatically (HormuzReport).
Iran’s army chief reportedly set a $30,000 bounty on US forces, per Fars (zerohedge).
Counter-current: Trump’s advisers presented sanctions-damage data and convinced him to prefer intensified economic pressure over further military action, per WSJ reporting (Megatron_ron). Scotiabank is already mapping the Bessent economic hammer (zerohedge), and “unprecedented economic isolation” is the framing being briefed out (BrettErickson28).
Axios-sourced claim of secret Trump-Iran negotiations routed through Iraq, dropped ten minutes before the open (Nostra, House of Gold). Treat the timing as the tell.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claims nuclear weapons against Iran are being discussed in strategy meetings – “I’m not speculating, I know” (FmrRepMTG), echoed onward (Megatron_ron). A nuclear bunker-buster is described as one of Trump’s last remaining cards, disputed in-thread on grounds that no US weapon has meaningful earth penetration (Pataramesh). Single-origin claim – LOW, but it’s the reason Iran’s hardened-tunnel doctrine keeps coming up.
The White House confirmed Trump’s threat to declare Hormuz “a US territory” was a joke (Amb_Ulyanov)…
..Hormuz and oil: the fight moves from closing the strait to invoicing it – while diesel does the pricing – Iran is asking 5% of cargo value per transit (≈$8.85m on one supertanker at Friday’s Brent settle), and the Lloyd’s Market Association’s LMA5708 clause published 23 July lets hull underwriters terminate cover the moment a transit payment is made. OFAC designated Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority on 27 May and prohibits US persons from even receiving safe-passage guarantees. Iran wants 5-7%, Oman has floated 3%, Washington wants zero…
..Anti-ship missile launches toward the waterway were reported minutes after USAF tankers and fighters cleared the area, following near-continuous tanker and AWACS activity (MenchOsint). By Monday morning, public data still couldn’t confirm a single successful transit through the US corridor…
..The battlefield extended to the Red Sea: Ansarallah fired two ballistic missiles at the Bab el Mandeb area, with unconfirmed reports of tankers targeted, which would explain the sudden crude climb (MenchOsint).
Diesel is where the stress shows. Diesel future options implied vol spiked above 100 again – checked, not a glitch – the second time recently traders have covered for a distillate spike while crude stays suppressed (JustDario). Either the suppression extends to diesel or the market stops trusting the crude print entirely (JustDario)…
..US force posture: morale graffiti, a broken carrier, and Gulf hosts reconsidering the lease – Photographs from the Persian Gulf show messages scrawled in the dust of an aircraft flap – “Operation Epstein Fury,” “Peace deal #64 incoming” – with a serviceman’s assessment that “this operation has no morale behind it… deployed to undesirable locations INDEFINITELY” (tparsi).
Families of US sailors publicly accused Trump and Hegseth of dismissing shipboard conditions and calling their relatives liars, per The Guardian (HormuzReport). The USS Abraham Lincoln’s sewage system reportedly failed, flooding sailors’ living quarters (Megatron_ron).
Blockade arithmetic: the carrier postured toward China has to relieve one of the two enforcing the blockade, because of morale and supply problems from a record-length deployment (Pataramesh). Only three US carriers are described as active, the rest in dock (AlternatNews).
Gulf states have reportedly lost trust in the administration’s Iran strategy and some are considering cancelling major US bases, per WaPo (BRICSinfo)…
..Lebanon and Gaza: deadliest strikes since the ceasefire, and eight foreign ministers put the blame in writing – Israel is threatening a return to war in Lebanon after unleashing the deadliest airstrikes since the ceasefire (zerohedge). The regional read is that Lebanon has no path that doesn’t run through either an Iran-initiated wider war or a US-imposed Israeli withdrawal after Netanyahu falls (ejmalrai).
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s declared rejection of the Gaza road map endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2803 and of Palestinian statehood, stating Israel “now bears responsibility for obstructing” peace efforts (KSAmofaEN). Eight signatories including three US treaty-adjacent partners is the datapoint.
Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal over violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank (Pontifex). The framing that keeps landing: Israel thinks it has a PR problem (tparsi).
Attrition inside the force: two reported Israeli soldier suicides after Gaza service, one last Thursday and one the previous week (MenchOsint).
Separately, Trump celebrated a Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan (EricLDaugh) – an alignment worth watching precisely because it doesn’t include Washington…
..Japan: 10Y at 2.91% (highest since 1996), a growth miss, and a FIMA workaround for $1.4T of Treasuries – Japan’s 10-year yield rose to 2.91%, the highest since 1996 (zerohedge); the 2-year jumped to 1.69%, a 31-year high (Barchart). GDP grew at half the expected pace (Barchart).
The plumbing story: Bessent reportedly pressing the Fed to expand the FIMA repo facility so Tokyo can pledge Treasuries for dollars and defend the yen without liquidating its $1.4 trillion position (leshka_eth). Corroborating detail from a different angle – the Fed’s T-bill holdings at $500bn from $200bn in 2025, and Treasury selling euros to prop the yen (GarrettGoggin).
The rate-hikes-strengthen-the-yen thesis is being challenged directly on the charts (JustDario). Framing that keeps recurring: both Japan and the US are in debt doom loops, and the only question is who face-plants first (DonDurrett).
US side of the same ledger: $25bn of 30Y at 5.216% (highest auction yield since 2001), $42bn of 10Y at 4.683% (highest since 2007), and a July deficit up $141bn YoY to a record $432 billion (KobeissiLetter) – that deficit being a +48% YoY surge (Hedgeye).
Interest costs are tracking toward $1.7 trillion annually at stable rates, which would surpass Social Security as the largest single federal expenditure (Barchart); $638bn was issued in one week, all of it rolling within a year (DonDurrett)…
..Russia broke the Cuban oil blockade – a Russian tanker with 100,000 tonnes of crude arrived in Cuba (thesiriusreport). LOW, single source, but a direct sanctions-enforcement test. https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-17

So not-a-joke today? Trump Drops Map Of Hormuz As “New US Territory” Amid No Talks, Declares Strait “Open & Operating”; UAE Under Missile Alert https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-posts-map-showing-hormuz-new-us-territory-just-after-latest-tanker-attack

The conclusion preceded the visit, perhaps? Top Admiral Visits USS Lincoln, Suggests Reports Of Dire Conditions Are Greatly Exaggerated https://www.zerohedge.com/military/top-admiral-visits-uss-lincoln-suggests-reports-dire-conditions-are-greatly-exaggerated

[John Day]

The US path to “victory” is re-definition: “US Can’t Bomb Its Way To Victory”: Scotiabank Maps Bessent’s Coming Economic Hammer On Iran https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-cant-bomb-its-way-victory-scotiabank-maps-bessents-coming-economic-hammer-iran

Iran’s Army Chief Offers $30K Reward For Kill Or Capture Of American Troops https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/irans-army-chief-offers-30k-reward-kill-or-capture-american-troops

Trump Hails Mecca Defense Pact As ‘Big, Bold, Important First Step’
Since the signing of a defense pact earlier this month by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan – which is being touted as having NATO level protections akin to an Article 5 style ‘attack on one is an attack on all’ – there’s been much speculation on whether Washington would embrace or reject it.
After all, it seems to put greater distance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and thus lessens the potential for Riyadh ever agreeing to join the US-backed Abraham accords, especially given that Turkey is an avowed enemy and regional rival of Israel. But the United States broke its silence on the pact this weekend, as President Trump on Sunday hailed it as a good and promising development.
“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It shows how the Middle East is coming together and how countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he added, further hailing the agreement a “BIG, BOLD, IMPORTANT FIRST STEP.”
Israeli media has meanwhile been pointing out that the pact is widely seen as a sign of waning US influence in the region, and that its members states see it fundamentally as a rejection of Israeli regional hegemony. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-hails-mecca-defense-pact-big-bold-important-first-step

US Issues Rare Condemnation Of Israeli Strikes On Syrian Airbase: ‘Unnecessary Escalation’ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-issues-rare-condemnation-israeli-strikes-syrian-airbase-unnecessary-escalation

Making a virtue of necessity as the USS Washington heads to Hormuz to replace the Lincoln? Trump Says US To ‘Substantially Reduce’ Military Drills With S.Korea, Cites ‘Very Good Relationship’ With Kim
“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump stated…
..He invoked Seoul’s stance on the US-Israel war on Iran, which marked a huge disappointment for the White House.
“I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'” he said.
Still, Trump lamented that it is actually too late to cancel the drills, and so ordered War Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” them. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-says-us-substantially-reduce-military-drills-south-korea-cites-very-good

[John Day]

Logistics War https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/logistics-war

The world has entered an epoch of global war on supply-lines, a logistics war curtailing flows of fuels, grains, finance and trade in general. Flows of people have been weaponized in this war, which impairs the ability of a freshly-colonized nation (eg. France) to respond to emergencies, since it is internally divided.

Simplicius, Iran’s Strategy Vindicated as US’s Logistics Chain Hobbled and Stretched by Early Strikes
The US’s naval problems in the theater all stemmed from Iran’s deliberate strategy of wiping out US bases in the region, resulting in the extremely inefficient lengthening of US supply chain logistics for war:..
..The US Navy’s problems began immediately after Iran’s opening salvo of the war, which saw the Navy’s top regional logistics hub in Bahrain go up in smoke from Iranian missiles and drones:
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s supply problems began soon after the first day of the war, as Iranian missiles and attack drones fell on a Navy base in Bahrain.
The Iranian attack, retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assault on Tehran, destroyed much of the base. And as it went up in smoke, so did a major logistics hub that the Navy has relied on for decades.
The Navy needed a Plan B to continue feeding the sailors working around the clock to keep warplanes flying strike missions, and later to maintain a blockade of Iran’s ports… The Navy began using Diego Garcia as the main shipping point shortly after the Navy’s base in Bahrain was heavily damaged…
..The NYT piece goes on:
The loss of the hub in Bahrain has contributed to a host of reported problems on carriers supporting operations against Iran, as Democratic senators raise concerns about the Lincoln’s 5,000 sailors and their nearly nine-month deployment.
NYT details how the ailing USS Lincoln will now be replaced by the USS George Washington, hobbling over from INDOPACOM, leaving the 7th Fleet with no forward deployed carriers on the critical ‘Chinese front’…
..The state of the US Navy has shocked observers who were not attuned to such a rapid organizational decline, particularly amidst a major conflict wherein the Navy was meant to play the key sustaining role.
Now WaPo reports that US’s Gulf allies are again reconsidering the deployment of US bases on their territory in frustration for Trump’s erratic and amateurish handling of the Iran conflict. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/irans-strategy-vindicated-as-uss

Meryl Nass MD, Is it time to invoke the 25th amendment (that our President is no longer competent and needs replacing?) before we get into a bigtime nuclear disaster in Iran? This is an extreme measure, for sure, but the times call out for a level-headed leader in the White House. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/is-it-time-to-invoke-the-25th-amendment

Trump: 9 Months At Sea For USS Lincoln ‘Not Nearly Long Enough’ https://xcancel.com/zerohedge/status/2088784086596759672

Trump Doubles Down On Plans To Make Hormuz Strait A US Territory: “A Great Idea” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-threatens-bomb-st-out-oman-touts-irgc-backchannel

[John Day]

@TBOC: Go Cats Go! 😉
(I designed and built (built-in) a house in 2022-2023 after I got fired for COVID “vaccine” refusal. I didn’t go that fast, but I did good work and my drawings only needed adjusting in the bathroom due to floor joists already placed needing a plumbing workaround.)

I sent DBS an email, asking if he’s dead, on your behalf.

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by John Day.

[John Day]

I also have “a favorable view of socialism”, but I have lived in a college co-op of 80 – 100 people, where everybody had to pay their monthly rent and do chores for maintenance and meal preparation.
My wife and I met there.
You would be surprised how many people don’t pay their rent, make excuses for 2 months, then leave and never pay it. You might not be surprised how many people cannot be relied upon to sweep and mop.
You would want a breakfast cook to be cooking on time before you had to leave for work.
It gets complicated and socially time-consuming at even such a small scale.

(I was a reliable breakfast cook.)

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by John Day.

[John Day]

Picasso dropped some Bad Acid that day … ;-(

[John Day]

“I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9rodSz0-jQ

[John Day]

​ “Category-X” means “known to cause harms in pregnancy”: Category X: HHS Leaders Injected Pregnant Women with an Untested Gene Therapy — Then Hid the Miscarriages – Private texts reveal they knew. Public statements show they lied. Thousands of mothers and babies paid the price. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/category-x-hhs-leaders-injected-pregnant

Celia Farber, America’s Women In Rage, Waking Up To Truth About mRNA Induced Fetal Deaths: “There’s A Lot Of Angry Women Out There, And Rightfully So,” Says Florida AG. Vows To “Leave No Stone Unturned.”
​ FORGET Fauci, for a moment. Understand HOW It Happened. The $5 Trillion Pandemic Military Budget. The COLOSSAL Bribes That Collapsed The Three Pillar OB/GYN Orgs, ACOG, ABOG & SMFM.​ https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/americas-women-in-rage-waking-up

​ BREAKING STUDY: Spike Protein Drives Prion-Like Protein Misfolding, Amyloid Formation, and Multi-Organ Damage
COVID “vaccine” spike protein and lab-made SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are prion-like drivers of proteostatic collapse, pathological cross-seeding, transcriptional instability, and tissue dysfunction.​ https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-study-spike-protein-drives

​Paul Marik MD explains the life-story of Colon Cancer: APC and the Origins of Colorectal Cancer​ – How One Broken Gene Opens the Door to Cancer https://paulmarik.substack.com/p/apc-and-the-origins-of-colorectal

Climate Physicist, Anastassia Makarieva further investigates the measured inadequacy of the heating-air-only model of planetary winds and weather:
An Atmospheric Detective Story, Chapter 3: The Third Witness​ – Why the Numbers Behind Atmospheric Power Matter
​ If something goes wrong with our winds, we will be absolutely unable to fix it. Accordingly, winds have traditionally been viewed by humans as belonging to the realm of deities. Even in our ultra-modern times, our greatest achievement so far has been to use artificial intelligence to predict how tropical storms move. There is no chance to change what is coming.
​ Meanwhile, forest ecosystems, and natural vegetation more generally, appear to have evolved ways of regulating these flows. They do so by carefully handling the invisible fuel of the atmospheric machine: water vapor.
​ We can’t replace the machine. We can, however, preserve natural vegetation and help it recover. In doing so, we can guard ourselves against the worst wind extremes.​ Let us cherish our green friends.​ https://bioticregulation.substack.com/p/an-atmospheric-detective-story-chapter

[John Day]

​ English Village Will Have Six MIGRANT MEN To Every Woman
A quiet North Yorkshire village of roughly 600 people is set to be flooded with around 1,200 single adult male asylum seekers at the nearby disused RAF Linton-on-Ouse base. Local women would be outnumbered six to one.
​ Labour MP Rachael Maskell has raised the alarm over the plan, which forms part of the government’s wider push to move roughly 3,750 people into three former military sites near villages as it tries to empty asylum hotels.
​ The base sits beside a primary school and nursery, has only four buses a day into York, and already faces severe shortages of water, sewage capacity and electricity.​ https://modernity.news/2026/08/13/english-village-will-have-six-migrant-men-to-every-woman/

​ Watch: UK PM Wants EVERY Area In Britain To House Migrants​ – Prime Minister Andy Burnham has decided that “all parts of the country need to play their part.”
​ That means middle-class families and leafy villages must now accept large numbers of asylum seekers so the poorest areas are no longer the only ones carrying the load.​ This approach obviously does nothing to stop the root of the problem, the sheer number of migrants washing up in boats.​ https://modernity.news/2026/08/12/watch-uk-pm-wants-every-area-in-britain-to-house-migrants/

​ 450,000 U.S. Soldiers Diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury Since 2001
Those who enthusiastically support US “forever wars” should visit veterans who suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries during the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.​ https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/450000-us-soldiers-diagnosed-with-1d5

​ Peter McCullough MD, Fauci’s Miscarriage of Public Health Led to Actual Fetal Loss in Thousands of Pregnant Women
Data accumulating from the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign showed marked increased risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery​ https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/faucis-miscarriage-of-public-health

​ Sasha Latypova runst the numbers; >4X miscarriage rate: The miscarriage rate in mRNA vaccinated was not 82%; it was increased by 430%!
Discussing the infamous vSafe/mRNA pregnancy data with Dr. Drew.​ https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/the-miscarriage-rate-in-mrna-vaccinated

[John Day]

​Imaginary-information-“economy”: More Than Two-Thirds Of The Power Sought For US Data Centers Will Never Materialize https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/most-two-thirds-power-sought-us-data-centers-will-never-materialize

“Everybody rich and everything free”? Total Freedom Vs Total Slavery & The Race For AI Supremacy
At best, AI represents an advancement for information structuring; a much faster way to sort, categorize and investigate the data landscape. I find it very useful for speeding up research, but it only works as long as you understand that AI tends to lie by omission. It can never be fully trusted and must be backed by source material.
​ By extension, AI makes people incredibly lazy when it comes to understanding the world or pursuing information. When the public takes AI information at face value because they don’t want to do their own research, it makes them dumber.​..
..If you ask technologists and dreamers like Elon Musk, the goal is unlimited production. Meaning, AI and robotics would take over the majority of human labor. In theory, this would result in a new age of “time abundance” which Musk believes would lead to a form of wealth abundance. That is to say, AI technology makes individual labor unnecessary and thus, money becomes unnecessary because all basic needs would be provided for free…
​..Musk’s vision of an AI super-industry running the majority of the world’s basic infrastructure and supplying the majority of our survival goods would require an unprecedented level of energy…
​..If 50% of American drivers bought an EV tomorrow, this alone would increase the electrical load on US power grids by around 15%. Add to this the power usage of data centers and AI computing needed to run national robotics networks and the resulting energy demands would crush the grid.​..
..This is just for America (the most advanced nation on Earth). Don’t get me started on Europe, where their grid can’t even handle widespread use of air conditioners…
..The worst case scenario is the more likely one: AI, data centers and robotics will be used to empower elitist groups and make controlling the population easier. When I examine institutions like the WEF, the IMF, the BIS, etc. , their involvement with AI revolves around the digitization of the economy (a cashless society) and maximizing surveillance of the population through real time data tracking…
..Much less energy is needed for authoritarian applications. The existing grid could handle the spread of Flock cameras, the AI analysis of biometrics and license plate readers, the constant surveillance of financial transactions, etc…
​..The second industrial revolution introduced electricity, unprecedented medical advancement, long distance communications and easy transportation; all things that people never want to live without.​ AI pales in comparison so far, and the promises that propel its popularity require an energy renaissance that isn’t possible for many decades to come. Sadly, the most logical use for the proliferation of AI is suppression of the populace. For the globalists, the AI race is not about improving the future for the common man, it’s about injecting the technology into the common man’s life before he has a chance to realize he’s being chained down by it.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/total-freedom-vs-total-slavery-and-race-ai-supremacy

​ Ed Dowd, Absolutely Surreal: Anthropic CEO’s Wife & “Sounding Board” Once Pitched a Visionary Porn Company to Jeffrey Epstein
I’m not anti-AI. I’m anti-fantasy finance dressed up as technological inevitability. The technology will survive the bubble the way bandwidth survived the telecom crash. What won’t survive is the current set of valuations, the current capital allocation decisions, and the current pretense that the people steering the largest capital wave in a generation are uniquely wise, uniquely ethical, or uniquely free of the usual human frailties. https://eddowdbeyondthenarrative.substack.com/p/absolutely-surreal-anthropic-ceos

Meryl Nass MD, Did you know that Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and the banks that helped him have already paid out at least $850 million in settlements to shut up victims and protect bank officials and clients? And Leon Black, after paying Epstein an estimated $170 million, spent an additional $62,500,000 settling with victims. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/did-you-know-that-jeffrey-epsteins

Never type “Pakistani Rape Gangs”: British Police Unit Flags Over 100 Social Media Posts For Arrest Amid Immigration Backlash​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/british-police-unit-flags-over-100-social-media-posts-arrest-amid-immigration-backlash

[John Day]

​ Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-12
Two things hardened overnight. Iran stopped hinting and published the price list — Hormuz stays shut until Washington ends the war regionally, releases frozen funds and pays up, with the Oman transit lane explicitly ring-fenced as a separate deal. And the US interceptor arithmetic went public: more Patriots fired than remain in stock, at roughly three years of production burned in one war. Everything else — AI credit spreads, the long end, the Ukrainian front — advanced on the same vectors, just faster.​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-12

​Gilbert Doctorow, News X World: Putin Warns West of Retaliation as EU Targets Russia’s Shadow Fleet
I say here, the West will take seriously Vladimir Putin’s threats to seize Western commercial vessels in response to Western ‘piracy’ when he begins seizing ships, not issuing verbal threats. I close the interview by invoking the same test on American pronouncements on challenging Russian domination of the Arctic when they move from words to deeds. At the moment the U.S. does not possess a single icebreaker while Russia has perhaps 20. Until the U.S. has a credible naval presence in the Arctic, its threats to Russia are just empty talk.​..
​..It is pointless to defend Russia’s shadow fleet when the questioner describes the fleet as violating international sanctions, as if those sanctions were UN imposed and not just unilateral sanctions of the EU or the USA which are themselves violations of international law.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/news-x-world-putin-warns-west-of

Ukraine Suspends Attacks On Tankers Using Russian Black Sea Port, At Vance’s Urging​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-suspends-attacks-tankers-using-russian-black-sea-port-vances-urging

​ Gilbert Doctorow, ‘Judging Freedom’ edition of 12 August 2026: What is Russia’s Strategy Towards the U.S?
I have changed my view of two weeks ago regarding Russia’s move from its war of attrition strategy to a knock-out blow based on strangulation of delivery of Western arms to Ukraine. That view had been based on Russia’s destruction of the port infrastructure of Odessa, damage to other Black Sea ports and the seeming naval blockade depriving Ukraine of access to the sea. However, the notion of strangulation was contradicted by Russia’s failure to destroy the rail and land routes into Ukraine from across the Polish border.
​ Now on second consideration I see that destruction of Odessa and other ports was merely an extension of the tit-for-tat behavior of Moscow, a reactive posture, that has now moved into the economic domain: Ukraine damages Russia’s oil export facilities and attacks its shadow fleet to deprive Moscow of an important source of export earnings and now Russia shuts down Ukraine’s grain exports, which have been a major source of hard currency for Kiev. This is not a change of strategy from the war of attrition which is leading Russia only towards territorial conquest when it eventually takes the whole Donbas and Odessa, but does not address the objectives of establishing a neutral Ukraine and of regime change in Kiev (de-Nazification) which President Putin had set out in February 2022.​..
​..We also discussed the Kremlin’s objectives in maintaining good relations with Washington in spite of the fact that the US is supplying invaluable military intelligence to Kiev for programming their attacks on Russian infrastructure. The point is to keep the US separate from the EU so that the Europeans never can be sure that Article 5 has any validity as they face possible Russian missile strikes against their military factories that are key suppliers to Ukraine.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/judging-freedom-edition-of-12-august

​ Russia To Intensify Attacks On Sources Of Western Support In Ukraine: Lavrov​
On Friday Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has essentially declared Zelensky’s 40-day campaign to be defeated and moot. He described in a fresh media interview that not only will Russian forces implement a tougher response against Ukraine, but will go after the sources of Western support. He specifically raised the issue of the United States and its role.
​ “We have submitted a series of questions to the State Department requesting comment, including on the matter of intelligence data and the fact that the US is far more deeply involved in organizing and executing strikes deep within Russian territory against civilian targets. We await a response,” Lavrov told state television, as quoted in Reuters.
​ “Russia will intensify its military campaign in Ukraine and seek to destroy every element used by the West to sustain Kiev’s war effort,” the top diplomat said.
​ The Foreign Ministry has of late accused Ukraine of “brazen acts of terrorism” against shipping in the Black Sea, amid tit-for-tat ongoing attacks which have disrupted energy and grain shipping.
​ We will not sink to their level. Instead, we will adopt much harsher methods to destroy everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine. We are already doing this, and they are already moaning,” Lavrov asserted.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-intensify-attacks-sources-western-support-ukraine-lavrov

[John Day]

​ Simplicius, Encore at the Cirque Du Hormuz – The Greatest Show on Earth!
“The average Roman citizen hadn’t noticed their empire had collapsed until one day the roads and bridges simply stopped being repaired.”
​ In this case, American society lives in a state of Normalcy Bias, as spray-tanned politicians bleat about some kind of ‘Golden Age’, while virtually everything associated with the American empire slowly goes to hell in a hand basket.​
​ The state of affairs is breathtaking, to say the least.
The US Navy operating against Iran continues to leave observers awestruck amidst new reports of sailors literally trying to jump off the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier…
​..These are surreal optics.
Particularly at a time when Western media jeers at Putin for allegedly dotting his “Lake Valdai retreat” with an AD shield, and mocks Mojtaba Khamenei for “hiding like a rat”. The President of the United States of America is playing golf enwreathed in concertina wire with a mobile surface-to-air battery as his caddy cart, only days after escaping Turkey in a meat locker, all while US sailors literally fling themselves from the gunwales of Navy flagships to escape a war that has seen every American base in the region get debasified.
​ Folks. These are not normal times—we may be in the end game here.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/encore-at-the-cirque-du-hormuz-the

​ Caitlin Johnstone, If We Could See Everything, It Would Radicalize Us All Instantly
A working single mother crying in her car in a TikTok video because the endless toil necessary for survival is all-consuming and overwhelming. A news report about child labor in DRC cobalt mines. An Instagram reel about a father in Gaza carrying plastic bags he’s been told contain the remains of his daughter.​ Individually, such stories are heartbreaking and enraging. But they are not merely personal anecdotes from separate individuals. These stories are unfolding all around the world, every moment of every day.​ https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/if-we-could-see-everything-it-would

​ Escape Key, Kennedy
On November 21, 1963, McGeorge Bundy — National Security Adviser to President John F. Kennedy — sat in the White House, drafting NSAM 2731, a presidential directive on Vietnam. Kennedy’s own directive, NSAM 2632, had been signed just six weeks earlier, ordering the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by December 1963 and the majority of American forces by the end of 1965. Bundy’s draft reversed it, committing the United States to ‘win their contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy’.
​ The cabinet was in Hawaii3, and the President in Texas. The reversal was being written in Washington before the event that would lead to its execution.​ Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas the following day.​ https://escapekey.substack.com/p/kennedy

​ Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-14 [To state the obvious; “markets” appear AI-rigged with a big bankroll deployed, presumably by the Fed et.al.]
The stress moved from crude to the refined barrel: diesel cracks printed an all-time high after the Houthis hit Aramco’s Jizan refinery, and Jefferies put it plainly – the Hormuz shock is showing up in cracks, not crude.
​ Elsewhere the 30-year cleared at 5.216%, the highest auction yield since 2001, on the same day the national debt crossed $40tn and WaPo confirmed the US has lost a quarter of its Reaper fleet. Equities took none of it personally: S&P 500 above 7,800, VIX under 15.​..
​..Bessent promises a “one-two punch” on Iran next week. “Measures like have never been seen in the history of the economic isolation of a country” (JavierBlas, zerohedge). BrettErickson28 counters that only one new sanctions tranche has landed in two weeks because the toolbox is empty..​.
​.. [Transport fuels are the tight spot.] Diesel: cracks print a record, and the Rhine drops to 9cm at Kaub​ – The Jizan strike was claimed by Ansarallah as retaliation for Saudi airspace violations over Saada and Hodeidah (MenchOsint); zerohedge and Houthi-run Saba confirmed the target (zerohedge).
​ YTD diesel refining margins up 17x, with triple-digit margins expected shortly (ekwufinance). jackprandelli notes gasoline isn’t far behind.
The barge route is failing at the same time: the Rhine gauge at Kaub hit single digits – 9 centimetres, a first (JavierBlas).
​ Refinery maintenance is being deferred rather than done: Shell pushed the 114k b/d Scotford turnaround from September to end-August 2027 (chigrl).
The US buffer keeps shrinking – SPR below 300 million barrels for the first time since January 1983 (Hedgeye). Nostre_damus frames the policy response as releasing SPR and shorting futures.​ Wall Street’s own framing is a refined-products “perfect storm”…
..Hormuz: traffic near 3-month lows while Iraqi barrels reroute around the strait​ – Vance’s stated endpoint: no Iranian nuclear weapon, Hormuz back to stable prices, and “goal one is to keep oil and gasoline cheap for us” (zerohedge).​..
​..Iran attrition: carrier swap, drone task force, and CENTCOM fighting the story​ – USS George Washington is en route to relieve USS Abraham Lincoln, 200 days without a port call, with Hegseth calling the poor-conditions reports “completely misrepresented” (ILRedAlert). Arrival estimated at 8-15 days (MenchOsint).
​ CENTCOM issued a formal denial: 84.4% reenlistment, 260 days at sea, 10,000 flights, 1.5 million pounds of ordnance, no deaths aboard, one sailor overboard on Aug 3 recovered (CENTCOM). MenchOsint reads that as CENTCOM calling sailors’ families liars.​..
​..Rates: FY26 interest passes $1.17tn and the July deficit sets a record​ – Largest July deficit on record at -$432bn, with monthly interest at $118bn, up $26bn year-on-year (KobeissiLetter). Three-year trajectory: $244bn → $291bn → $432bn, up 77% (PpollingNumbers).
​ Sources diverge on the annual interest total: Kobeissi puts FY2026 at $1.17tn and says it has surpassed both defense and Medicare​…
​..Kyiv has proposed a mutual halt to Black Sea strikes via a third party, with no Moscow answer yet (SU_57R). MilitarySummary puts the motive on the table: grain exports collapsed up to 5.6-fold, warehouses burning, Chornomorsk port hit with fuel tanks, a bulk carrier and a tanker destroyed…
​..AI: Anthropic’s $2tn October IPO chatter, and Amazon booked $53.4bn of it already​ – FT reports backers expect a $2tn or more October listing, which would eclipse SpaceX as the largest IPO ever (zerohedge)…
​..Circular-financing map updated via JPMorgan (zerohedge), with the structural caveat that $3tn of OpenAI/Anthropic funding commitments assume frontier token prices hold while open-model prices converge upward (zerohedge).​..
​..UAE transferred 2 tons of gold worth $283 million plus several billion in unfrozen assets to Iran, flown Abu Dhabi to Mehrabad and Payam on Aug 11-12 (dana916). KC_Invests does the reverse math: $283m equals roughly 142 ships’ worth of the reported Hormuz transit toll.
​ Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Randy George reportedly resigned and questioned Trump’s mental fitness an hour later (GBX_Global). Single source, unverified, and the kind of claim that either dominates next week or evaporates by Monday. Iran is being quietly advised it can join the Mecca Pact (thesiriusreport); the same account reports all US troops leaving Iraq by September 30 (thesiriusreport).
​ US rejects Israel’s plan for a permanent military presence in southern Lebanon, calling it a violation of the US-brokered framework (GeneralMCNews)​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-14

​ Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-08-13
Two things actually moved: Trump declared the US has “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz on the same day vessel traffic printed a three-month low and only 2 of 166 crossings used the US-escorted Oman lane, and the 10-year auction tailed at the highest yield since 2007 hours after an in-line 3.4% CPI. Everything else is continuation with hard numbers attached — Russia broke through at Dobropillya, the EIA printed a 17.4mb crude build that doesn’t reconcile, and gold futures took out $4,500.​ https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-08-13

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